The summer exhibitions celebrating First Nations art

Spanning from Victoria to West Australia, here are the exhibitions celebrating First Nations art this summer.

Kuprilya Day: making daisy chains for Kuprilya celebrations (2021) by Kathy Inkamala.

Bark Ladies: Eleven Artists from Yirrkala, Victoria

The diverse works from Northeast Arnhem Land’s Buku Larrngay Mulka Centre (Buku) are the subject of the NGV’s latest survey of First Nations art. Since 2000, Buku’s group of female Yolngu artists has been painting on bark and larrakitj (hollow poles), honing the craft in works that celebrate Yolngu Law – the belief that the land and water are one in a single cycle of life.

Baratjala (2019) by Nonggirrnga Marawili.

At the National Gallery of Victoria from December 22, 2021 to May 1, 2022.

Tarnanthi, SA

Red earth, blue water and soaring corellas – such familiarities of our Australian landscape are admired through a contemporary lens at Tarnanthi, a survey of First Nations art held annually since 2015 at Adelaide’s AGSA. This year, the exhibition celebrates the many faces of Country. Ngukurr artist Gwenneth Blitner’s tropical flora accompanies the waterholes depicted by Katjarra Butler, whose odes to Kuurrmankutja land have the appearance of a mosaic. Excitingly, Tarnanthi will also feature a display titled ‘Keepers of culture’, with woven works by Sonya Rankine and large-scale necklaces by Maree Clarke created specifically for the collection.

At the Art Gallery of South Australia until January 30, 2022.

Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, WA

AGWA is the first stop for the NGA and Wesfarmers Arts touring exhibition, a survey of historical and contemporary First Nations artworks. Each of the 80 artists or so on display partake in an appreciation and interrogation of Australia’s complex history.

Self-portrait: in our country (2002) by Julie Dowling.

The exhibition’s central themes include ancestors and creators, country and constellations, culture and ceremony. Expect intricate, breathtaking landscapes from artists such as Mangala Yulparitja man Daniel Walbidi.

At the Art Gallery of Western Australia from December 11, 2021 to April 18, 2022.

This article appears in the December issue of Vogue Australia, on sale now.