The elephant in the room: public art in Brisbane

Artist-activist Fiona Foley recounts a recent incident of the commissioning of a public art work for Kurilpa (place of the kuril or native water rat). Kurilpa is the cultural precinct where GOMA is located. Foley imagines works by prominent Queensland Aboriginal artists dotted along that place.

Published June 2012

Panorama: are we there yet?

Daniel Boyd, Nadine Christensen, Sarah Goffman, Fiona Lowry, Bennett Miller, Arlo Mountford, Joan Ross, Caroline Rothwell, Bernie Slater, Jemima Wyman

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW
27 January 2011 – 13 March 2012

Published June 2012

Tandanya: the case for home

The National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, known as Tandanya, was established in 1989 in Adelaide. Philip Watkins, Artistic and Cultural Director of Tandanya, 2006-2011, said: “This is Tandanya’s role – to show our world through our eyes, to tell our stories and to sing our songs with our voices.” Curator, educator and writer Sara White reviews Tandanya's 23 years of art and asks "Does Australia need more Tandanyas?"

Published June 2012

Trepang: Crossing cultures, creating connections

The exhibition 'Trepang: China & the story of Macassan-Aboriginal trade' opened in the Capital Museum, Beijing on 1 April 2011 and at the Melbourne Museum on 23 July 2011.
Melbourne-based academics Susan Lowish and Alison Inglis describe the exhibition's genesis and some of the issues that it raises in terms of cultures, history and collaboration.

Published June 2012

Big wave: Desert Country

Legendary curator John Kean looks at three recent large exhibitions of Aboriginal art - Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, Desert Country and Living Water, and questions whether the same spirit sings in all of them.

Published June 2012

No Place without Other Places: Spinifex Arts Project at fifteen years

University of Western Australia lecturer Darren Jorgensen examine the Spinifex Arts Project from its inception with reference to a new exhibition happening August-October 2012 at John Curtin Gallery and asks the big question: "What would it mean if Aboriginal artists were not tied to language groups, communities, art centres and regional styles?"

Published June 2012

Indigenous Art Code: cracking the code

The Director of the Indigenous Art Code John Oster explains the Code, how it works, why it is needed and who isn't complying.

Published June 2012

Archie Moore: drilling deep

Freelance curator and writer Tim Morrell studies the art practice of Brisbane-based Archie Moore which is emphatically free from any signature style and is concerned with sharing his experience as an Indigenous Australian in order to put viewers 'in his shoes'.

Published June 2012

Parallel Collisions: 2012 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art

2 March to 29 April 2012
Art Gallery of South Australia
Curators: Natasha Bullock, Alexie Glass-Kantor

Published June 2012

The Ballad of Jimmy Governor

Emeritus Indigenous curator Djon Mundine wrote this essay on the occasion of a production of Posts in the Paddock a play about Jimmy Governor by the company My Darling Patricia. The performance included members of the both families involved. Mundine addresses questions of familial and national forgiveness.

Published June 2012

Exhibitions to Watch

Published June 2012

Making History

Stephanie Radok takes the temperature of Aboriginal art and history in 2012.

Published June 2012