I’m confident that Adelaide is the place to be this weekend with the important Tarnanthi Festival opening at the Art Gallery of SA, the art market adding a commercial element, and Tarnanthi’s founder Nici Cumpston farewelling her baby after ten years to head off for the uncertain charms of America, where she’ll be in charge of that country’s largest Indigenous art collection, the Kluge/Ruhe.
Has it only been going since 2015? Tarnanthi feels as though it’s always been with us, from the first which featured the Riverland queen, Yvonne Koolmatrie, an early tribute to the purist mob at Spinifex Arts, the Iltja Ntjarra group spinning Herrmansburg landscapes in circles, the very beginnings of the Kulata Tjuta project to engage young Desert men in culture, and was it the first appearance of Yhonnie Scarce’s Maralinga-blackened yams as a cloud. There were also 21 partner exhibitions including, memorably, Archie Moore’s scented history, Les Eaux dÁmoore!
Are there still partner shows – I can’t find out?
But there certainly is a major exhibition at AGSA celebrating Tarnanthi’s first decade. Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi assembles more than 200 works of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art commissioned for previous Festivals. For Cumpston there is absolute vindication that her First Nations art is reclaiming the once-closed salons and vestibules of Australian institutions – which, for many First Nations peoples, remain enduring symbols of Western cultural imperialism. Though there are complexities, she admits, in “settling” these works off country in an institution once doubting their artistic value.
So she adds, “The exhibition both revisits key Tarnanthi works acquired by AGSA then revitalises them with fresh insights and conversations with other works across the Gallery. All reflect the creative vitality and adaptive genius of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists”. (Actually, Brian Robinson would seem to be the sole TSI rep)
Sixty-four artists or art groupings are on offer, ranging alphabetically from Tony Albert to the Waŋupini larrakitj that were part of the uncompromising Yolŋu explanation of their Gurrutu/kinship system in 2019. All the artists listed above from 2015 have something in the show, but there’s also Maningrida’s John Mawurndjal, Wik & Kugu woman Mavis Ngallametta and the APY Lands Kunmanara (Wawiriya) Burton from a list I totalled up of 50 artists who have died during Tarnanthi’s decade.
But that’s just a small portion of the 6000 artists that AGSA claims to have appeared at both Tarnanthi and the art fair over the decade, seen by 1.6 million attendees and raising $6.6m via the Fair. BHP must be proud of its continuing sponsorship, which, amongst other things, allows all of the Fair takings to go straight to the art centres.
Living artists feature on the AGSA website promoting the event; two of the calmest and most elegant, in my humble opinion…Darrell Sibisado’s neon expansions on the traditional pearl-shell riji of his Bardi Country; and Garawan Wanambi’s stately geometric take on Springwater bubbleing up through a larrakitj on the beach at Raymangirr.
On Friday night, the Festival Launch features a live performance by First Nations hip-hop supergroup 3%. The ARIA Award-winning collective are known for powerful live performances that are steeped in the culture and stories of First Nations people, while pushing the boundaries of hip hop, pop and storytelling. They follow a Kaurna Welcome to Country and a keynote address by Professor Megan Davis, the Uluru Statement leader. Not a patch on the memorable year when the Yolŋu descended from Arnhemland to dance the night away, lead by Djambawa Marawili.
Alongside the exhibition – which runs until 18th January next year – AGSA hosts artist and curator talks (don’t miss Cumpston on Sunday), guided tours, performances, film screenings, workshops and creative activities in The Studio. An award-winning Education program assists students and educators.
What a shame this Festival isn’t all happening at a brand new Tarrkarri Cultural Centre – still a patch of bare ground down the road from AGSA thanks to the intransigence of the State government.
And, as Tarnanthi Ten triumphantly opens, the NGV’s The Stars We Do Not See, hailed as the largest First Nations exhibition to be seen outside Australia is NOT opening as planned in Washington. For the US National Gallery is a national organ, and, thanks to Congress’ total failure to agree on anything, the Federal Government in America is shut down. Opening events, associated exhibitions all frustrated.
