2021
January, 2021
Appreciating Mparntwe
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 04.01.21
By way of a holiday escape, take a magic carpet-ride to Mparntwe - usually called Alice Springs. It's a colonial outpost dumped down on rich Aboriginal country and the real locals are now offering an insight into pre-colonial places and...» Read More
'Him Proper Clever Man'
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.01.21
Paddy Compass Namadbara is just about a familiar name in Western Arnhemland bark art. In the 1950s and early 60s, he was part of a group that painted on Croker Island which included the future standout Yiriwala and Jimmy Mijaw...» Read More
"Lost in Another Person's Culture”
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 11.01.21
“For the first time from the National Maritime Museum Collection, we bring together works by Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands) artist Alick Tipoti. With over 25 years of art practise, Tipoti is respected for his work in regenerating cultural knowledge...» Read More
HIGH GROUND
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 15.01.21
This film is a 20 year labour of love by Stephen Johnson and the people of Arnhemland. For Johnson began working with Witiyana Marika on a film to go with Yothu Yindi's anthem, 'Treaty', and, since then, has been collecting...» Read More
Indigenous Fashion Meets Country Road
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 15.01.21
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation’s Indigenous Fashion Projects announces Country to Couture Showcase is coming to our TV screens for the first time! After a successful event held in Darwin in late 2020, Country to Couture will bring its exclusive...» Read More
February, 2021
A Design for Adelaide’s Aboriginal Cultures Centre
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.02.21
New concept designs have been released today for Adelaide’s Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC), to be built at Lot 14 in the city's CBD. The AACC Aboriginal Reference Group (ARG) has worked with the design team from architects Woods...» Read More
A Design for Adelaide’s Aboriginal Cultures Centre
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.02.21
New concept designs have been released today for Adelaide’s Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC), to be built at Lot 14 in the city's CBD. The AACC Aboriginal Reference Group (ARG) has worked with the design team from US architects...» Read More
The Boy from the Mish
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.02.21
A Young Adult (YA) novel on Aboriginal Art Directory? Well, there has to be a first for everything. And anyone who's read my thoughts upon returning from Griffith's Wiradjuri Festival in October will know that 'The Mish' was capable of...» Read More
FIRESTARTER
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 04.02.21
This film is so much more than a dance film – which is what most followers of Bangarra Dance Theatre might expect. There are, after all, 31 years of its productions and dancers to celebrate. But 'Firestarter's' directors Wayne Blair...» Read More
SONGSPIRALS TWIST AROUND SONGLINES
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 17.02.21
Artist Paul Klee is famous for saying that drawing was like 'taking a line for a walk’. Can you take a song for a walk? English writer Bruce Chatwin seemed to think so after a fleeting visit to our deserts...» Read More
National Endowment for Indigenous Visual Arts
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 19.02.21
If that name sounds like an official institution set up by some government quango, it is possible that was the intention. In fact, it's the baby of the ever-dynamic Melbourne (and New York) dealer D'Lan Davidson. Though he was beaten...» Read More
lutruwita apology
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 19.02.21
I'm off to lutruwita tomorrow – though my flight will say it's going to Tasmania. Coincidentally, the Apple Isle has been in the news this week because an official apology was made to the First Peoples of lutruita about the...» Read More
March, 2021
ANTEDILUVIAN ROO
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 05.03.21
A 17,300-year-old painting on the ceiling of a rock shelter in The Kimberley's Drysdale River National Park, painted by ancestors of the Balanggarra Native Title group, the Miwa-speaking people, has been identified in the magazine, Nature Human Behaviour as the...» Read More
PAPUNYA ART AT 50
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.03.21
Back in 1971, a revolution took place at the most unlikely place. The remote, government-built desert community of Papunya was full of Pintupi, Warlpiri, Luritja, Aranda and other tribespeople who were increasingly reluctant to meet the official deadline for assimilation....» Read More
The Very Late Charlie Flannigan
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 16.03.21
Drawings by a prisoner who became the first person to be executed at Darwin’s Fannie Bay Gaol are currently on show at the Northern Territory's Library in Parliament House, Darwin. 'A Little Bit of Justice: The Drawings of Charlie Flannigan' will...» Read More
Two Big Moves
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 19.03.21
Aboriginal Art Directory doesn't often touch on the commercial gallery scene – such a competitive and occasionally 'sensitive' area! But it's an essential part of the industry, however much some in the community art centre world would wish it away....» Read More
Bla Mela Kantri
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 22.03.21
OK – I wonder whether you can make sense of my Kriol title for this story??? For it's the title of an exhibition exploring different representations of landscapes around Ngukurr, the south Arnhemland township where many tribes met beside the...» Read More
All Revealed in Freo
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 24.03.21
Presenting the best new and emerging Aboriginal artists from remote, regional and metro Western Australia, 'Revealed 2021' will showcase artworks including paintings, installations, textiles, photography, print media, video, jewellery, carving and sculpture. Hosting over 100 emerging Aboriginal artists, the galleries...» Read More
TRUTH-TELLING
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 26.03.21
Henry Reynolds, offering a “big picture context” for the 'Uluru Statement from the Heart' in his latest book, is a fine historian. His intensive researches into the horrors of past colonial relationships with Australia's First Nations peoples have brought many...» Read More
THE NATIONAL 2021
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 29.03.21
The third iteration of 'The National' “showcasing the varied and vital work being made by Australian artists” has opened across three venues in Sydney – Carriageworks, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of NSW. Whether there will...» Read More
April, 2021
National Aboriginal Art Gallery Gets a Boss
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 15.04.21
The Northern Territory's Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Chansey Paech has announced the appointment of Tracy Puklowski to the role of Senior Director, National Aboriginal Art Gallery planned for Alice Springs. She'll start in the job on 24 May...» Read More
2021 Telstra NATSIAA Finalists Announced
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 22.04.21
Sixty Five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander finalists from across Australia have been selected from a total of 248 entries in the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards presented by the Museum and Art Gallery of...» Read More
Sydney Biennale - 'From a Brook to a River'
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 23.04.21
Sydney's Biennale in 2020 set new standards with its emphasis on First Nations artists from around the world. For 2022, the Colombian Artistic Director, Jose Roca has taken up the baton and kept running – allowing him to pun that...» Read More
CANBERRA
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 28.04.21
There are fascinating differences between the two major institutions in Canberra in the presentation of their First Nations collections. At the National Gallery you can't avoid the Indigenous even as you hurry in to make your timed booking for the...» Read More
