Ngarralja Tommy May : 1935- 2022
“Thank you mob in Darwin for this business. Thank you. At last. I feel proud. I've been trying all my life, all the time second, fourth, last, sometimes nothing. But Read More
First Nations Director for National Aboriginal Art Gallery
Exciting news from Mparntwe/Alice Springs. The first Indignous appointment to the leadership of the troubled National Aboriginal Art Gallery team has been announced, with applications open until 6th October. S/He Read More
Critiquing the Critics
Three recent heavyweight reviews of Indigenous art in three newspapers – The Wall Street Journal, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian – raise fascinating questions about how and why Read More
The Queen in Arnhemland
An excellent article on the Artshub website considers the late Queen Elizabeth as a subject for Australian art. Of course, Vincent Namatjira features, alongside Paul Ryan, Karla Dickens and Sir Read More
Sydney Contemporary ‘22
Ninety galleries showing art from 34 countries under one vast industrial roof, all showing off the art they are proudest of, and which they think will sell best. Sydney Contemporary Read More
Marvellous Madayin
A momentous event occurs in the tiny New Hampshire town of Dartmouth next week. And it’s part of a surprising pattern in which Australia’s Aboriginal art is clearly taken more Read More
Myths of First Nations Art
“Myth – Traditional story, usually concerning some superhuman being or alleged event which attempts to explain natural phenomena; especially a traditional story about deities and the creation of the world Read More
Two Significant Announcements
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) has announced that artist and designer Francoise Lane will be its Artistic Director following the departure of Janina Harding at the completion of last month’s Read More
Post-NATSIAAs
While the Telstra NATSIAAs naturally hit the headlines with their $100,000 main prize going to a mighty woven sail from Milingimbi and another $90,000 in prizes both supporting the Indigenous Read More
Telstra NATSIAAs
In Darwin at NATSIAA’s time, it’s an oddity that the Salon des Refuses actually opens before the big show. In France, where they invented the concept, and in Sydney where Read More
Darwin 2022
All the news of late from the Northern Territory has concentrated – quite rightly – on Garma, its Festival restored after two years hiatus, and the politics surrounding the Government's Read More
Tuppy Takes the Hadley’s
The tendency for landscape art prizes like the Wynne and Tasmania's rather newer Hadley's Art Prize to be dominated by Aboriginal artists' work seems self-perpetuating. Their unique relationship with Country Read More
Di Kershaw 1945/2022
The sad death from cancer has been announced of one of the most characterful women in the colourful world of Indigenous art. Di Kershaw - partner of Mick – had Read More
Productive Report?
In response to this week's Productivity Commission report into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts & Crafts Industry, the ABC reported: “Around $250 million of Indigenous art was Read More
Silent Strength
Was this the first time an Indigenous photographer has won the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize? I can't find any official word of celebration. But Wayne Quilliam, the Read More
Daniel Boyd Surveyed in Sydney
I find it intriguing that virtually all of the many feature articles that I've read, plus radio and even TV interviews experienced about the current AGNSW survey show of Daniel Read More
Mrs D Yunupingu 1945/2022
The eldest of her six sons, Witiyana Marika, posted a message on social media earlier this week: “This day is the saddest day of my family’s life. The mother of Read More
FNQ All Over
Cairns, Cape York and the Torres Strait may seem like impossible distances away from the southern capitals of Australia (and Tassie). But the promotion of their art – often with Read More
PHOENIXING
Judith Neilson is in the news for all the wrong reasons – a falling out, it seems at her eponymous Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas. It seems that Read More
A Grande Experience
There will be many mixed responses around ‘Connection : Songlines from Australia's First People’s', just launched in Canberra. For any one who experienced ‘Van Gogh Alive', where the Dutchman's familiar Read More