The German curators at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin are claiming an exhibition of comparable significance to the famous French Third World exhibition, Les Magiciens de la Terre in the 1980s for ‘Tropics, Views from the Middle of the Globe’, just opened in Berlin.
In this exhibition around two hundred works from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Australia and tropical America from the collections of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, which are among the world’s largest, are confronted with works by forty contemporary artists from Brazil, South America, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia.
Leading Torres Strait Islander artist, Dennis Nona represents the Aussie Tropics with his
monumental six metre linocut, ˜Yawarr’ included in the exhibition.
Michael Kershaw of The Australian Art Print Network, who is his agent, says ˜this is a further step in establishing Torres Strait Islander art on the international art scene. The start was made in 2001 with the Gelam Nguzu Kazi exhibition that showed in the UK and Canada. The exhibition is still touring and has been seen in twenty six venues in over seventeen countries
This was followed in 2006 with Dennis Nona’s first solo show that was seen in Paris at the time of the opening of the Musee du quai Branly to much acclaim bringing Torres Strait Islander art and culture to a huge international audience .
The strategic support of the Queensland Government’s Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing & Export Agency (QIAMEA) has been a key factor in gaining real interest for these exceptional artists in the international market’.
