There are six major First Nations events poised to happen over the Aussie winter, headed by the launch of the 15th edition of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair tomorrow in Far North Queensland.

Also coming are the Telstra NATSIAAs and associated events in Darwin, ‘Ever Present’, a major Indigenous art survey at the National Gallery, Desert Mob in Mpartnwe/Alice Springs, Sydney Contemporary Artfair in Sydney and the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial in Perth. And did you know that you’ve just missed that excellent exhibition, “Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route Art Exhibition” in Burma? It continues to tour the world courtesy of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since its local launch in 2010, having visited more than 40 countries!

But you need to drop everything and head for Cairns where, tomorrow, CIAF offers an evening of live music, dance performances, art award announcements and your first look at the Art Fair and Art Market. Held at the Cairns Convention Centre, this launches three days of events including curated exhibitions at the local Art Museum, fashion, Barkaa at the Tanks Arts Centre, free public programming and more. That more includes CIAF 2024’s Symposium on the theme “Country Speaking” over two days, Friday and Saturday. It appears to be much more academic than in earlier years.

Over to Darwin for its winter wonderland of sun-kissed Awards, exhibitions, fairs and fashion. Illogically, most people accept that events kick off on Wednesday 7th August with the works that the NATSIAAs rejected – the Salon des Refuses; this year at the Waterfront Precinct. But the Salon is more than a single salon as local gallerists Paul Johnstone and Matt Ward take advantage of the weather and the crowds to mount important exhibitions around town. This year they’ve picked ‘Pujiman Wanti’, three Martu elders from the deserts – Nora Wompi, Nora Nungabar and Bugai Whyoulter; the Spinifex ‘Pila : The Space Between the Dunes’; Wendy Hubert: ‘ngurra goonmardii’ – works by a Yindjbarndi Custodian; and Wurrundan Marawili works on incised metal from the Yolgnu lands in Arnhemland.

Then there’s the Art Fair, DAAF and associated fashion displays and awards, the Indigenous Music Awards and, that core event, the Telstra NATSIAAs, which launches on Friday night 9th August on the Museum and Art Gallery lawns. Could it be the last hurrah for that launch, given a new art museum opening in the CBD? Seventy two of the supposedly finest artworks of the year fight it out for $190,000 in prizes. They include works by a panoply of major names from bush and city – and 21 emerging artists – from every State and Territory apart from the ACT.

The finalists were selected by an all-female panel consisting of Kelli Cole from the new National Aboriginal Art Gallery, Janina Harding from the Victorian First Peoples Art and Design Fair, and Rebekah Raymond, MAGNT Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture.

The Indian Ocean Craft Triennial officially opens on 16th August at the Fremantle Arts Centre, but its website includes exhibitions already running around Perth. Six countries are involved, and First Nations artists included come from the Torres Strait, Ernabella (silks from the Holmes a Court Collection), the Bardi people of Northern WA, and Yarrenyty Arltere artists in Mparntwe. The shows continue into October.

Desert Mob is the next cab off the rank on 5th September in Mparntwe. From the opening night celebration to community studio visits, curator talks, art workshops and musical performances After Dark, Desert Mob is a cultural event for all the community.

In 2024, it features works by emerging and established artists from over 30 Aboriginal art centres across the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. The Desert Mob Symposium is a day of presentations and performances led by artists sharing stories of culture, community and Country. The Marketplace is a buzzing battleground for buyers offering the chance to acquire works directly from the artists who created them. The exhibition at Araluen Art Centre runs until October 20th.

Opening the same day at Carriageworks in Sydney, Sydney Contemporary Artfair runs only until Sunday 8th. I count 10 galleries that specialise in First Nations art who have signed on, so there should be a feast of commercially available artworks to enjoy.

Finally, to Canberra, where a slightly delayed appearance of ‘Ever Present’, the NGA’s major survey exhibition of ATSI art opens on 14th September. This show, curated by Tina Baum, has already been seen in WA, New Zealand and Singapore – where a hard-copy catalogue was produced. Shockingly, Canberra isn’t reprinting it for Australia! Perhaps it was only ever intended as an overseas promotion?

‘Ever Present’ features works from over 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from all over Australia. As the promotion puts it, “From late nineteenth-century drawings by William Barak and Tommy McRae to iconic 1950s watercolours by Albert Namatjira and expansive post-1970s canvases by artists such as Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Sally Gabori, to recent video installations by Vernon Ah Kee and Dr Christian Thompson, the exhibition will introduce audiences to artists and aesthetic approaches that have made substantial contributions to international modern and contemporary art”.

It’s going to run for almost a year – definitely worth a catalogue!

And, while we’re in Canberra, I can report that a busy Tony Albert has been appointed Artistic Director of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After The Rain, which will open at the National Gallery in December 2025. Albert is the first artist to helm the event, though he did have a curatorial role at the last Sydney Biennale. Congratulations, too, to the NGA, which has previously managed Quinquennials only every five years, despite the title. But ‘Ceremony’, the last Triennial, happened in 2022.

Wonder what ‘After the Rain’ betokens?