Connection is the largest representation of art from First Peoples ever to be assembled. Comprising almost 650 artworks and over 110 artists, past and present, it is a 50-minute digital experience that immerses its audience in a kaleidoscope of sight and sound.
The show is broken into Land, Water, and Sky Country, with changing maps contextualising the work as it transitions through the artists. The exhibiting artists include Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Tommy Watson, Clifford, Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Anna Pitjara, and Lin Onus, alongside emerging artists, and all are accompanied by a rotating soundtrack to match the theme and location. The musical artists range from Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Emily Wurramara, and Gurrumul, to renowned composers William Barton, and contemporary artists Alice Skye and Baker Boy.
In addition to the digital show, there are also 85 original artworks on display, including Emily’s Wall, a 53-piece series by the beloved late Anmatyerre artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye, commissioned in 1994 and exhibited here in Australia for the first time.
View, in pictures, the immersive digital tapestry that is Connection.
Connection
The LUME Melbourne
On now—late 2023
Suggested Reading
The ceramics of the Central Desert
Developed in 2022 by Artback NT as part of Apmere Mparntwe—the Australian Ceramics Triennale— touring exhibition Clay on Country, showing now at New England Regional Art Museum, showcases the diversity of ceramics in the Central Desert.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
About Face mirrors the alluring world of contemporary portrait painting
About Face is a smart piece of marketing. The new book on portrait painting from Australia and New Zealand has a mission to change buyers’ minds about the field. But as Jane O’Sullivan discovers, any sales pitch wears thin if it’s repeated often enough, and the close attention to how portrait painting is received by the market means that other important conversations fade to the background.
Jane O'Sullivan
Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana and inherited influence
In Anmatyerr artist Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana’s first solo exhibition in Melbourne—which focuses on the Central Desert food source Arnwekety (bush plum)—the influence and love of her Country and culture is palpable. Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana is now showing at Niagara Galleries.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Helen Mueller tells stories of the forest
Helen Mueller has been printmaking for 25 years, but moving to Hobart four years ago shifted her focus to the local natural environment. Now her delicate prints, made with materials foraged from the forest floor, are showing at Handmark Gallery.
Sally Gearon
AI-Generated Art? Bring it on!
Artists need not fear the spectre of AI-generated art. Instead, Oslo Davis suggests, we need to start reaping the rewards.
Oslo Davis
The NGV returns to French Impressionism
The National Gallery of Victoria has announced the next instalment of the Winter Masterpieces series, coming in June 2025, will be a return to French Impressionism—an exhibition from 2021 that closed as soon as it opened due to the global pandemic.