String theory: Karen Mills

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

Onside

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

Published June 2013

Rainforest identity (past and future)

Napolean Oui is a Cairns-based, mid-career, Djabugay artist and a proud advocate of the rainforest art style unique to Far North Queensland. 2012 was a breakthrough year for him, he did a residency at Studio PM with Paul Machnik and others in Montreal, developed new work at Djumbunji Press for a solo show at Kickarts Contemporary Arts in Cairns during the Art Fair, AND sold work to the National Gallery of Australia.

Published June 2013

Tracking Bluey Roberts

Published 01 June 2013

Ghostnets go global, and local

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned at sea, lost accidentally, or deliberately discarded. The GhostNet Project, which began on islands and in communities around the top of Australia, uses the nets to make artworks, to raise awareness of marine pollution, to be creative. Awareness of Ghostnets is on the rise both nationally and internationally.

Published June 2013

Spirits beyond borders: Shadowlife

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

Desert Lake

Curator: Mandy Martin
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
2 March – 14 April 2013

Published June 2013

My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Interview with Bruce McLean

On curating My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia, opening at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane on 1 June 2013. 

Published 01 June 2013

The limits of criticism

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

The (white) elephant in the room: Criticising Aboriginal art

Does Aboriginal art exist in a critical vacuum? 

Published June 2013

Sculpture@Bathers

Curators: Tony Jones, Joanna Robertson
Kidogo Arthouse and Bathers Beach Arts Precinct, Fremantle
16 March – 1 April 2013

Published June 2013

Testing Ground

Curator: Julie Gough
Artists: The 1491s, Ólöf Björnsdóttir, Trudi Brinckman, Darren Cook, Rebecca Dagnall, Sue Kneebone, Nancy Mauro-Flude, Jeroen Offerman, Perdita Phillips, r e a, Keren Ruki, Christian Thompson, Martin Walch, Siying Zhou
Long Gallery, Salamanca Art Centre, Hobart
14 March – 28 April 2013

Published June 2013