State of Surprises
“I can think of no more authentic eco-tourism experience than immersing that story of 60,000 years of culture, I think we can do a lot better”. Now which Australian political Read More
Ever Present, but Less Past
A month or so ago it looked as though there was a real competition on for the biggest ever First Nations art show. The NGV in Melbourne announced plans for Read More
2025 – Annus Mirabilis?
Is 2025 destined to be an annus mirabilis for Aboriginal art? As ever with Australian culture, the enthusiasm of foreigners is oft regraded as the benchmark of success at home. Read More
WELCOME TO COUNTRY?
With The Australian newspaper and a good proportion of the Liberal/National Opposition raising questions about the prevalence of Welcome to Country ceremonies and speeches it took a courageous (and outgoing) Read More
Amoonguna Film
The new film Under Streetlights is largely shot in the tiny community of Amoonguna – 20kms out of Alice Springs. It’s written and directed by the non-Indigenous Danielle Loy, who Read More
Gift of Ethnohistory
The UNESCO-inscribed Donald Thomson Ethnohistory Collection, which offers rare insights into the rich cultural and economic lives of Indigenous peoples in Australia, has been gifted to the University of Melbourne Read More
WA Cultural Treasures
Peggy Griffiths-Madij, the queen of Miriwoong art in the east Kimberley and Katjarra Butler, the Pintupi woman, widow of the great Papunya Tula founder, Anatjari Tjakamarra and founder of the Read More
Art from the Heart
“For a city of its size, Gimuy/Cairns has a healthy number of exhibition spaces, including the venerable Cairns Art Gallery, the Tanks Art Centre and Court House Gallery, all operated Read More
Art v Rugby in the NT
This week, the Northern Territory’s new Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro announced that Mparntwe’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery (ATSIAG) would be halved in size and squeezed on to Read More
Art Fair Stasis?
Has the Indigenous art fair rolling stone stopped rolling? It’s a question I ask following a torrent of press releases from DAAF – the pioneering Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair started Read More
HUBERT PAREROULTJA, 1952 – 2024
“I am a Western Aranda man. My family believe giant caterpillars called the Yeperenye became Tjoritja, the West MacDonnell Ranges in the distant past. The giant caterpillars entered through gaps Read More
65,000 Years of Australian Art
It’s unusual for an exhibition catalogue to appear 8 months in advance of the exhibition it records. Indeed, the opposite is more often the case as printing and publication delays Read More
An Albatross in Canberra
It would seem that the albatross around the necks of anyone attempting to establish a First Nations cultural institution has flown to Canberra now. If you recall, in January 2022, Read More
21st Century Melbourne
While non-Indigenous artists may have to wait until they’re dead to get an institutional retrospective exhibition, it seems that the process can be speeded up for the Indigenous. In Melbourne Read More
Teho at CIAF
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair’s (CIAF) Curatorial Associate, Teho Ropeyarn has taken up the Acting Artistic Director’s role, effective immediately. Ropeyarn – an Angkamuthi and Yadhaykana man with ancestry also on Read More
Gala Dinner & Auction, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
To celebrate their 20th Anniversary, the Aboriginal Benefits Foundation (ABF) is hosting a gala dinner incorporating a fundraising art auction at the Garden Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney on 22 Read More
Kim Akerman 1947-2024
Kim Akerman Tjapangarti, one of the foremost non-Indigenous interpreters of Kimberley art and artefacts has died in Hobart aged 76. He was only able to achieve this because of an Read More
Tarrkarri Still There!
On Monday, the SA Premier, Peter Malinauskas proudly released a new Lot 14 Masterplan, joyful that BAE warfare systems was taking a major stake in this central Adelaide defence, space Read More
Not Quite the Last of the Nomads
Thomas Tjapaltjarri, born around 1964 in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia, was a member of the Pintupi Nine, known as 'The Last Nomads', Sadly, he died last week after Read More