ADELAIDE’S ABORIGINAL GALLERY PROGRESSES
Despite rumours to the contrary only last month, the South Australian government has shown clear signs that it really intends to go ahead with a project that will take it Read More
QAGOMA Pays Tribute to Mrs Ngallametta
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) today paid tribute to leading Australian artist Mrs Waal-Waal Ngallametta who passed away on 28 January at her home in Read More
Discursive Announcements
The Honours system in Australia was pretty good to the arts this Australia Day: no fewer than three ACs “ the top gong - though I'm bemused at the appearance Read More
TUCKSON AND TILLERS
Two essays within larger publications have caught my eye as 2019 gets underway. The first is special “ a substantial catalogue for the AGNSW show of Tony Tuckson's abstract expressionism Read More
SPINIFEX GUM
Back in December, I previewed the Sydney Festival with its Indigenous director, Jandai man, Wesley Enoch: https://news.aboriginalartdirectory.com/2018/12/blak-out-at-the-sydney-festival.php He made it clear that 25th January “ eve of Australia Day “ Read More
Man with the Iron Neck
It takes much courage and collaboration to put the sorry saga of youth suicide amongst Australia's Aborigines on the stage. Josh Bond started this process after personal experience; the physical Read More
THE WEEKEND
What's spiriting about this Sydney Festival production is that brand new names to me in the persons of playwright Henrietta Baird and actor Shakira Clanton, and in the production company, Read More
#alwayswill be
The SBS TV spin-off, NITV is building up to a big day on 26th January with a series of top documentaries and feature films that cover some of the major Read More
Both ‘National’ Aboriginal Art Galleries on Hold!
What is it about projects to create a national Indigenous/Aboriginal art or cultural centre that seems perpetually doomed? Sydney thought about it for Barangaroo, Perth has talked about it. The Read More
Blak Out at the Sydney Festival
Has Sydney ever had such a political Artistic Director for its annual fun-fest? But then, is it possible to be an Aboriginal artistic leader and not be political??? Wesley Enoch Read More
Remote Arts Workers at UniMelb
Young Aboriginal artists and arts workers from across northern Australia are spending two weeks taking part in a ground-breaking Indigenous learning program at the University of Melbourne. It is the Read More
Introduction – The perplexing case of indigenous art
A few months ago, the Pulitzer Prize-winning US critic Jerry Saltz wrote an essay in which he referred to Aboriginal art as "outsider art". He was using this term as Read More
KATHLEEN PETYARRE
We've lost another of the first white contact pioneers of acrylic painting from Utopia “ Kathleen Petyarre, who died aged 80 on 24th November. Kathleen, or, as she was born, Read More
NONGGIRRNGA
In the catalogue for the excellent solo showing of artworks by Nonggirrnga Marawili at the Art Gallery of NSW there's a blissfully ordinary picture of the artist “ barefoot below Read More
Two Iconic Art Galleries for the NT?
How many iconic art galleries can one State or Territory need? While the rest of us “ especially the online alicespringsnews.co.au “ were exciting almost hourly over the chances that Read More
Passing Clouds
Sadly, a deluge of death has flowed through Aboriginal communities in recent days taking artists, art centre elders and even one of the most significant non-Indigenous art centre facilitators. For Read More
The Uluru Statement comes to Sydney
With far too little fanfare, a week of action was launched on November 4 in support of the vital Uluru Statement from the Heart, released last year by delegates to Read More
Skye’s the Limit
At the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, the sale of Indigenous art hit an all-time low, galleries around Australia closed their doors and many artists simply stopped Read More
DO WE WANT AN INDIGENOUS ARTS AUTHORITY?
In a process not unlike the one that lead to the hugely consultative Uluru Statement from the Heart, a year of consultation is about to start towards establishing a National Read More