Tarnanthi, in the Kaurna language of the Indigenous people of Adelaide and its surrounds, means to come forth or appear, like the sun at the dawning of a new day.
Now in its second iteration, the Tarnanthi Festival 2017 is a biennial showcase of national contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art taking place at the Art Gallery of South Australia and 20 satellite venues.
Confluence features work by Nicole Monks, a recipient of the Arts NSW Indigenous Design Mentorship in 2016, who worked with the Australian Design Centre and Terri Winter from Top3 by Design to create the Marlu (Kangaroo) range of furniture. JamFactory senior curator, Margaret Hancock-Davis describes the collection as “richly layered and embedded with stories,” with a focus on the transfer of knowledge within family life and culture. The importance of the kangaroo as food and in ritual is embodied in nyinajimanha (sitting together), a grouping of stools, table and kangaroo skin rug, inspired by the campfire as a meeting place.
Also featured in Confluence are the collaborative works of the Yolngu weavers of Elcho Island and design company, Koskela, who have been working together since 2009. In this innovative project the Elcho Island women have translated their traditional string weaving techniques into new forms. Lampshades and larger furniture pieces show the integration of bush materials and knowledge about land and culture with contemporary design practice. The lampshade project, first exhibited in 2009 as Yuta Badayala (A New Light), continues to show the agility of the Yolngu weavers in creating new forms for a new audience. Confluence embraces innovative cultural intersections; shining new light on ancient cultural practices and affirming shared futures.
Confluence
JamFactory
13 October – 22 October
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art is an extraordinary account of the unique art of this continent, published alongside a landmark exhibition at the Potter Museum of Art. Necessary and urgent, it tells the story of Indigenous Australian art; a new art history unlike anything we’ve seen. For Jane O’Sullivan, it’s a remarkable and must-read book.
In a new series of illustrated postcards available as a free gift with purchase only at the Art Guide Bookstore, Oslo Davis takes on classic and contemporary art terms and genres and reimagines what they could be referring to.
With so much to choose from, we’ve rounded up the major summer exhibitions in each capital city, open all summer long. Spanning Yayoi Kusama, Magritte, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and many more.
For Lardil and Yangkaal writer and curator Maya Hodge, Archie Moore’s presentation at this year’s Venice Biennale is a powerful symbol of reckoning—one that asks the world to bear witness to the long shadows of colonial violence and clears space for possibilities ahead.
bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country, curated by Jonathan Jones and now showing at Bundanon, highlights a long history of Indigenous art on the New South Wales south coast, with works and installations from Jones, Aunty Julie Freeman, Aunty Cheryl Davison, and Mickey of Ulladulla.
In a new collaborative exhibition at PS Art Space, in partnership with Cool Change Contemporary, five artists with process-lead practices contemplate material ethics through actively engaging in slowness and reuse.
