NGA Referendum Fund

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1967 REFERENDUM FUND

DEFYING EMPIRE By existing By determining our identity By asserting our histories, our culture, our language By telling our stories, our way By being the oldest continuous culture in the world

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1967 REFERENDUM FUND

50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum Fund A 90.77 per cent ‘Yes’ vote in the 1967 Referendum showed unprecedented support across Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be fully counted as citizens on the census and for the Commonwealth to unify the governance of Indigenous affairs. The National Gallery of Australia will commemorate the 50th anniversary of this key event in 2017 with its third National Indigenous Arts Triennial, Defying Empire.

As a survey of Australian contemporary art by thirty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, this major exhibition will enable Indigenous Australian artists to be showcased on a national and international level, highlighting the continued excellence and diversity of Indigenous art today. Defying Empire will open at the NGA in Canberra in May 2017 and will be followed by a tour of Australia.

As an enduring national statement, the NGA will establish a commemorative collection of high-calibre works boldly exploring Australia’s history through contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. By donating toward the acquisition of ten major works from among the fifty included in the triennial, you will help us to recognise the importance of the historic referendum, capturing for all time the interests and stylistic approaches of the selected artists.

Gifts of $10 000 or more will be acknowledged against specific works of art in perpetuity, and I take this opportunity to thank former NGA Council member Warwick Hemsley and the Hon Melissa Parke for launching this campaign by supporting the acquisition of Sandra Hill’s Double standards 2015.

With the support of generous benefactors for the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum Fund, the capsule collection of ten artists represented in this brochure will join the national art collection as a fitting and permanent acknowledgment of this landmark event in Australian history. We would be delighted if you could assist us by becoming a donor to this special project.

Dr Gerard Vaughan AM Director National Gallery of Australia 2

Defying Empire Identity is central to Indigenous Australians. It encompasses more than our skin colour, connections to Country and knowledge of and access to cultural lore. It is our very identity that marked us for categorisation, regulation and restriction under state and territory law since first contact. In the archives, Aboriginal people have been documented as being in ‘defiance of the Empire’ due to cultural misunderstandings and their perceived behaviour and unwillingness to adapt to the new colonies. As a consequence, many policies of integration and assimilation were developed and enforced.

Until the 1967 Referendum, there was no standard regulating law for Indigenous people across the country, although citizenship and voting rights had already been granted in most states and territories. The referendum marked a significant change in Australian governance with an overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote by the Australian people, enabling Indigenous people to be counted on the Australian census for the first time. In practice, this meant that Aboriginal people with families across state lines were officially governed by the same laws as all other people in Australia, a watershed moment in Australia’s history.

To commemorate this pivotal event, the NGA has invited thirty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to explore their historical and contemporary narrative with pride, determination, resistance and recognition of their identity, and what that means in contemporary society. The third National Indigenous Arts Triennial, Defying Empire, will celebrate the resilience of Indigenous peoples since first contact with the British Empire and mark the ongoing activism for recognition since the 1967 Referendum.

Tina Baum Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art National Gallery of Australia

DEFYING EMPIRE 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial: Commemorating the 1967 Referendum The National Gallery of Australia, in partnership with our Indigenous Art Partner Wesfarmers Arts, is proud to present the 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial, Defying Empire, in May 2017.

Defying Empire is a survey of diverse contemporary work by thirty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, responding to the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum. These artists have been selected for their commitment to excellence, exploration of new fields of practice and artistic vision. The exhibition includes works of art from many different regions throughout Australia, demonstrating the incredible range of contemporary Indigenous arts practice.

Defying Empire will provide a central and galvanising focus in Canberra for the official celebrations of this landmark anniversary. In addition, the exhibition will give Australians the space and opportunity to reflect on the importance of the Referendum as part of our history and to engage in conversation about its impact on our present and future.

The National Gallery of Australia would like to acknowledge and thank our Indigenous Art Partner, Wesfarmers Arts, whose ongoing support enables an active and engaging Indigenous art program and has been vital to the staging of this significant exhibition.

Visit nga.gov.au to find out more about Wesfarmers Arts and the NGA’s Indigenous art programs, collections and exhibitions.

Indigenous Art Partner Ray Ken Pitjantjatjara/Yankunyjatjara peoples Kulata Tjuta 2015 (detail) synthetic polymer paint on linen National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016

Daniel Boyd

Daniel Boyd is a leading contemporary

Kudjla/Gangalu peoples

Australian artist whose work involves

Untitled 2016

painting, sculpture, new media and

oil, charcoal and glue on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016

installation. In his award-winning work Boyd uses a pointillist or transparent dotting technique overlaying a base image to create a clear vision from afar. Untitled recreates the monumental battle and subsequent death of Captain Cook and the crew of the Endeavour by the Hawaiian people in 1779.

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Karla Dickens

Karla Dickens is an established artist

Wiradjuri people

who primarily works with found material

Assimilated Warriors 2014

to create her installations but also with

masks: vintage suits, emu feathers, dog muzzles, farm plough, mixed media National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016 Photo: Zan Wimberley

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photography, new media, poetry and painting collages. Assimilated Warriors honours the activists from the Sydneybased Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association, and the later Aborigines Progressive Association, as a tribute to the many faceless warriors who fought for Aboriginal equality.

Sandra Hill

Sandra Hill is an established artist who

Minang/Wardandi/

examines issues relating to identity,

Ballardong/Nyoongar

Aboriginal history and the female story.

peoples

Her works are a visual essay and historical

Double Standards 2015

reference to what she and her people have

rice paper, shellac, Marri

suffered and lost in the recent past. Seen

and Balga resin, ink and

from afar Double Standards is a glowing

synthetic resin

Australian flag, but on closer interrogation

National Gallery of

it reveals a disparity of lives and

Australia, Canberra,

experiences, giving a glimpse of the double

purchased with assistance

standards that Hill observed growing up in

from Warwick Hemsley

Western Australia.

and The Hon Melissa Parke, 2016

This work was acquired through the generosity of Warwick Hemsley and The Hon Melissa Parke, 2016.

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Ray Ken

Ray Ken is an emerging artist who works in

Pitjantjatjara/

paintings and more recently in installation.

Yankunyjatjara peoples

Kulata Tjuta reveals the undulating and

Kulata Tjuta 2015

luminous tali or sandhills in his desert

synthetic polymer paint

country and features six spears facing

on linen National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016

north with horizontal striations separating each of them. Kulata Tjuta is a major carving revival project at Amata where the senior men are teaching the younger generations the skill of carving punu (wood) and kulata (spear) production.

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Yvonne Koolmatrie

Yvonne Koolmatrie is a highly respected

Ngarrindjeri people

nationally and internationally recognised

River Dreaming 2012

contemporary coil bundle weaver. River

sedge rushes (Lepidosperma canescens) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016

Dreaming is an adaptation of the large traditional mats that were originally used

by Ngarrindjeri women to carry their children and digging sticks, and also used as a sleeping mat and a protective barrier from the rain. This work, also known as a story mat, shows human forms, a freshwater turtle, mats and seven sister baskets as vignettes of Ngarrindjeri life on the Riverlands of South Australia.

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Rusty Peters

Rusty Peters is a senior artisan from the

Gija people

Warmun community in the Kimberley

Manambarram 2013

region of Western Australia. Primarily a

natural earth pigments and binder on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2013

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painter, he uses natural earth pigments on canvas with his large-scale work Manambarram, which hints at the movement of the heavens and key stars as they progress across the darkened sky over his Gija country.

Reko Rennie

Reko Rennie is an established artist who

Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/

started out as a graffiti artist. His works

Gummaroi people

in paintings, prints, installation and neon

Royal Flag 2013

reflect this early practice. He explores his

24 carat gold on aluminium

identity and history as an urban-based

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2013

artist in contemporary society through the use of his traditional Kamilaroi designs.

Royal Flag features a crown, symbolising sovereign status, within an Aboriginal flag outline making an emblematic statement about the original royalty of Australia.

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Brian Robinson

Brian Robinson is a prolific multidisciplinary

Maluyligal/Wuthathi/

Torres Strait Islander artist working in

Dayak peoples

diverse media, including printmaking,

Custodian of the Blooms

sculpture, design and public art. Custodian

2014

of the Blooms investigates the cultural

wood, plastic, steel,

narrative and traditional customs of the

synthetic polymer paint,

Zenadh Kes Islanders. Using plastic boards

feathers, plant fibre and

and bright colours, Robinson replicates the

shell

blossoming gardens of the Torres Strait

National Gallery of

Islands. He has described the flowers in his

Australia, Canberra,

works as symbolic of fertility, abundance,

purchased 2016

harvest and regeneration.

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Yhonnie Scarce

Yhonnie Scarce is an established practicing

Kokatha/Nukunu peoples

glass artist. Thunder Raining Poison is a

Thunder Raining Poison

monumental work revealing the British

2015

nuclear testing at Maralinga (1956–63),

glass, wire, metal

which affected her Kokatha homelands

armature National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016 Images: Š Janelle Low

in South Australia. Over 2000 signature hand-blown glass works in the shape of native yams, hung individually, create the illusion of a dissipating cloud after an explosion and the resulting debris and smoke raining its extremely hazardous, poisonous and radioactive poison back to the earth.

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Pedro Wonaeamirri

Pedro Wonaeamirri is an established

Tiwi people

artist who paints on bark and canvas,

Jilamara 2014

is a carver, a cultural leader, singer and

synthetic polymer paint on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2014

dynamic performer. His works reflect his strong connection with his Tiwi culture through the use of orderly abstract lines combined with a masterly sense of spatial balance. He methodically segments his work by using distinctive fine- and thicklined patterns using ochres, charcoal and clay. The dense patterning and intense layering of lines give a sense of movement or shimmer across the work, alluding to the ceremonial power of the Jilamara.

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cover: Brian Robinson Maluyligal/Wuthathi/Dayak peoples Custodian of the Blooms 2014 wood, plastic, steel, synthetic polymer paint, feathers, plant fibre and shell National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, purchased 2016 24