My Country: interview with Bruce McLean

Cover of My Country: interview with Bruce McLean
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An interview with BG Muhn on the art of North Korea
Interview
Yvonne Boag

Yvonne Boag interviews BG Muhn about his forthcoming book on the Passion, Propaganda and Paradox of North Korean Art to be published by Seoul Selections, and an exhibition at the American University Museum in Washington in 2016

Published December 2015
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Making Gaps: David Rosetzky's collaborators
Interview
Anna Zagala

David Rosetzky’s collaborators in conversation

Published September 2015
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Some questions to Stephanie Rosenthal Artistic Director 20th Biennale of Sydney
Interview
Eve Sullivan

Published September 2015
ACE Open
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Jenny Fraser: The cyberTribe odyssey
Interview
Djon Mundine OAM

Published 01 June 2015
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Yinimala Gumana: It comes from the spirit of the land
Interview
Will Stubbs

Published 01 June 2014

On June 1, 2013, a major exhibition opens in Brisbane – the largest exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art ever held at GoMA the prestigious Gallery of Modern Art. Artlink Indigenous co-editor Daniel Browning speaks to Bruce McLean, the curator of My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia.

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More from this Issue Full Issue Contents

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Harry James Wedge (1957-2012)
Obituary
Matt Poll

Assistant Curator of Indigenous Heritage Collections at the Macleay Museum Matt Poll writes a thoughtful, engaging and detailed account of the life and art of Harry Wedge, known as 'Big H' in his home community in Cowra. Poll says:" Harry’s artistic career remained an enigma to those closest to him throughout his life. His work is an exemplary case of an Australian outsider art – though not in the conventional definition."

Published June 2013
1.144
Jimmy Pike: there is more
Feature
Karen Dayman

Curator and writer Karen Dayman fills in the background of the development of the work and broadens the profile of Great Sandy Desert artist Jimmy Pike whose skills took him around the world and into collaborations with Desert Designs, with his partner Pat Lowe and with the theatre.

Published June 2013
1
The dearth of criticism
Editorial
Daniel Browning

Some artists are often heard to complain about the lack of honest criticism of Aboriginal art. But in such a limited sphere, criticising an Aboriginal artist in formal or aesthetic terms, or at a deeper level, is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Too often, critics play the man and not the ball. Can we handle the truth?

Published June 2013
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Disquiet and resistance in the art of Julie Gough
Feature
Judith Ryan

Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria Judith Ryan surveys the complex and inventive art practice of Julie Gough who is concerned with "developing a visual language to engage with the unsettling space between conflicting and subsumed Australian histories."

Published June 2013
1.334
The limits of cricicism
Feature
John Carty

Anthropologist John Carty casts his eyes over the last ten years of writing on Desert art, mostly in newspapers, and finds many cliches and inconsistencies. He asks:
"Where are the fine-grained localised art histories, the rich biographies of our most interesting and important individual artists? Where are their voices?" And replies: "They are still waiting in the Desert."

Published June 2013
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String theory: Karen Mills
Feature
Michelle Culpitt

Michelle Culpitt examines the work practice of Northern Territory artist Karen Mills whose paintings are inspired by the string bags made by the women weavers of Arnhem Land. Culpitt writes: "The articulation of her painterly vision is only possible at the nexus of her experience and influences as an Aboriginal woman in contemporary Australia, a place of both deep connection and belonging to country, and also disjuncture and dislocation from a nation in denial of its own history."

Published June 2013
1.454
New Olds - Design between Tradition and Innovation
Review
Patricia Brien

Curator: Volker Albus
RMIT Gallery, Melbourne
7 December 2012 – 9 March 2013

Published June 2013
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Onside
Review
Lucy Ainsworth

Curator: Toni Bailey
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre
9 February – 24 March 2013

Published June 2013
1.494
Thancoupie/Thanakupi (1937-2011)
Obituary
Jack Wilkie-Jans

Thancoupie (aka Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher James AO) was a trailblazer in Aboriginal art, studying, showing and making work in ceramics for many years. Her work was shown nationally and internationally. After many years she returned home to Weipa, and while still making and exhibiting, focused much of her attention on her family, community, land rights and the next generations.

Published June 2013
1.07
Good Medicine
Editorial
Stephanie Radok

Being Aboriginal doesn’t make you wise, spiritual or even good at art. Being Aboriginal is historical just like being any other nationality or ethnicity. All art can be examined ethnographically, all people can be examined ethnographically.

Published June 2013
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Spirits beyond borders: Shadowlife
Feature
Antoanetta Ivanovna

Curator and Associate Director of Taiwan Culture and Creative Platform Foundation Antoanetta Ivanovna, resident in Taiwan since 2011, discusses the travelling exhibition Shadowlife curated by Djon Mundine and Natalie King, and its impact in Taiwan where consciousness of their indigenous people is not as developed as it is in Australia.

Published June 2013
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Jean Baptiste Apuatimi (1940-2013)
Obituary
James Bennett

Curator of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia James Bennett writes with affection about the life and work of highly respected Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi. He describes the way she would not repeat a formula in her art but constantly push aesthetic boundaries in exploring new themes.

Published June 2013
 
Riddoch
Adelaide Festival Centre
NAVA
UTS2
Desert Mob