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.
Filmmaker Peter Hylands writes about a recent visit to the remote Pormpuraaw Art Centre in Far North Queensland. Here he talks with artist Sid Bruce Short Joe who speaks nine languages, the ninth is English.
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
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."
The artworks of Danie Mellor, Brian Robinson and Christian Thompson each draw on archival material for subject matter, for inspiration, and to develop new work that harks back and forward at the same time.
Ryan Presley's 2011 series 'Blood Money' is remarkable. These commemorative banknotes substitute the heroes of the white Australian monoculture (Banjo Patterson, Dame Mary Gilmore, Dame Nellie Melba and Sir Henry Parkes) with Aboriginal heroes, resistance fighters such as Pemulwuy, his son Tjedaberiyn (also known as Tedbury), Dundalli and Jandamarra and others such as the Gurindji stockman Vincent Lingiari who led the Wave Hill walk-off, and the late Wik elder Gladys Tybingoompa.
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.