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
Total Masterpieces
“Everything in the show is a total masterpiece,” extolled Myles Russell-Cook, Senior Curator of First Nations and Australian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. For his Gallery is offering Read More
Here we go again…..
Oh boy! The history of attempts to build First Nations-specific art and cultural institutions in Australia is such a sad one. There was so much faith in Tarrkarri for Adelaide Read More
New First Nations Arts Board
The Federal Government has brought into being an all-Indigenous 10-person board, which will oversee $52m in funding over four years from 2024-2025. The board was part of the government’s Revive Read More
Sydney Contemporary – Bigger or Smaller?
With the reportedly most expensive artwork on offer at this year’s Sydney Contemporary artfair an Emily Kngwarreye priced at $3.35m, could it be that Aboriginal art is at last coming Read More
War in the Mid-West (not East)
War is a big word. Just ask the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. For ever they’ve excluded the Australian Frontier Wars from any commemoration in their holy of holies. Yet Read More
Archie Moore’s ‘kith and kin’ bought by the Nation
Is the 2024 Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner, Archie Moore going to be permanently employed recreating his enveloping artwork kith and kin around the world now that it’s been ‘bought’ Read More
Kluge-Ruhe Moves Along
After 27 years as the director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Margo Smith AM has announced that she will retire in June next year. Read More
Big But Beautiful
It’s Telstra NATSIA Awards time again – amazingly the 41st such annual prize session, 33 of them funded by Telstra. Currently that generosity is to the tune of $175,000 to Read More
Terry Ingram 1942-2024
It may seem odd to record the death of Terry Ingram the long-term Saleroom correspondent of the Australian Financial Review, for whom First Nations art was of comparatively secondary importance. Read More
Forthcoming Events
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 Read More