A reverent silence overtakes us the moment we enter artist Khadim Ali’s world. Like Dorothy entering a technicolour Oz, we gape at a fire-engine red tapestry that hangs from the ceiling. It commands our full attention, being spotlighted in an otherwise dark room.
Blackness has long been absent from Australian public galleries. And if present, it is often portrayed as the voiceless and nameless muse or servant to the whiteness of the protagonist. Importantly the National Gallery of Victoria’s Triennial shows signs of change.
Youth arts have suffered repetitive funding cuts, at a time when encouraging the arts in our children is more important than ever.
In Funny Weather, critic Olivia Laing makes a case for why art matters in these dark times, and questions the state of critical culture.
The theme of Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s yearly program is ‘solastalgia’ which asks what the response of art will be in face of destruction, dispossession and the climate crisis. The program was kicked off with moving works from Nick Moir, Tony Curran and Waratah Lahy, and Hannah Bronte.
The poem ‘Razor Wire Childhood’ by Rodney Williams was inspired by a series of drawings by children held on Christmas Island. Although that facility has now closed, the issue of children held in detention in Australian government facilities is still relevant today.
The drawings of children in Home reveal a depth of experience and imagination, arising from the midst of violence and conflict.
Raafat Ishak plays with contrasting symbols and scale to bring his installation and paintings to life, redefining identity in a most surreal way.
A visual arts research project examines the possibility of a national memorial to honour the Indigenous peoples of Australia, who endure suffering and violence in the colonial and decolonising states of Australia.
How her work in advocacy shaped her debut novel; how to combat slippery political rhetoric; and the hazards of the word ‘refugee’.