Artlink

1 June 2005

Issue 25:2

Remote

Artrave

From the archive

Artrave

• > Paris via Alice Springs: The new Quai Branly Museum dedicated to arts and civilisations from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas will open in Paris in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in mid-2006. The building is the brainchild of President Jacques Chirac and has been designed by Jean Nouvel, architect of the spectacular Arab Centre in Paris, around the image, identity, environment and function of Indigenous cultures. Nouvel's solutions are many and varied, including planting a small forest around the long building. He has also commissioned a group of eight Indigenous Australian artists, Lena Nyadbi (WA), Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford (WA), Judy Watson (Qld), Gulumbu Yunupingu (NT), John Mawurndjul (NT), Tommy Watson (WA), Ningura Napurrula (NT) and the late Michael Riley (NSW), (whose existing work will be represented) to create about 1000 square metres of paintings for some very prominent exterior ceiling and wall spaces of the building. Indigenous curators Hetti Perkins and Brenda Croft are working with the Australia Council to coordinate this extraordinary commission for which the Council has contributed $300,000. The logistics of completing an architectural commission with artists who are scattered across some very remote places are staggering – Tommy Watson for instance lives in Irrunytju Community 12kms south west of the tri-border, where the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia meet, 720 kms south west of Alice Springs on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert. The Museum is scheduled to open in 2006.

More from this Issue

Sitting Down with Indigenous Artists

Erica Izett explores the cultural convergence between Australias indigenous and non-indigenous people over the past few decades and the rewarding implications it is having on Australias artistic and cultural practice and awareness.

Erica Izett

The Art of Fiona Hall

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane 19 March - 5 June 2005 Julie Ewington, Fiona Hall, Piper Press, 2005, RRP $88.

Pat Hoffie

Making the Gospel Their Own

Eastern Arrernte Catholics at Ltentye Apurte, the former Santa Teresa Catholic mission east of Alice Springs, are making the local church and liturgy a ground for telling their recent history and reflecting their ancient yet evolving traditions. A mural project was initiated by a local non-aboriginal woman Cait Wait in 2002 with the help of eight neophyte artists.

Kieran Finnane

Looking Forward Looking Back: in the East Kimberly

Marrying visual art, dance and inspirational rhetoric has been one of the hallmarks of the Jirrawun Artists Co-operation operating out of Kununarra. These traditional people have been at the forefront of contemporary political debates and Indigenous art practice. Cath Bowdler follows the story of Jirrawun Artists Co-operation from its inception in 1998 to the present day. A non-government funded body, Pro bono partnerships with the corporate and private sector.

Cath Bowdler

Return to Queensland's Top End: Lockhart River Arts Centre

Chantelle Woods

String Lines: Continuing Developments in Aboriginal Fibre Art

Margie West

Art at the Frontier: Franck Gohier

Frank Gohier has distinguished himself as a resident Darwin artist whose work as a painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher reflects a different perspective of the far northern - one based on lived experience. Addresses the impact of the indigenous community on his Anglo perspective art.

Anita Angel

Metaphor and Climate: My flight to the tropics

Anne Ooms

Neverland vs. Reality: How to Sustain an Art Practice in the Territory

Historically, people in the Territory have viewed southeners with suspicion, often characterising them as missionaries or carpetbaggers. Some emerging artists here are beginning to question these attitudes and are starting to take advantage of the financial and critical lifelines that the south has to offer. Bronwyn Wright and Tobias Richardson are two who have engaged energetically with southerners and achieved high levels of recognition.

Malcolm Smith

Giant Steps and Transcriptions

Experimental Art Foundation 25 February - 2 April 2005 Greenaway Art Gallery 22 February - 1 March 2005 Adelaide Film Festival

Stephanie Radok

Not Far From Here

Davenport Regional Gallery 28 January - 6 Marcg 2005 Bett Gallery, Hobart 9 March - 23 March 2005

Briony Downes

Women's Business by Remote

In the past two decades the face of Australian art practice has been changed immeasurably by a renewed focus on the culture of Indigenous people and the efflorence of Aboriginal art. This article looks at the work of three non-Indigenous artists who worked in places regarded as remote and developed art practices through engagement with Aboriginal people.

Daena Murray

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