Our Mob shows diversity of SA Indigenous art
InReview
South Australian Indigenous artists aged from 10 to 76 are showing a diverse collection of work which explores both traditional themes of country and contemporary life in this year’s Our Mob exhibitions at the Adelaide Festival Centre.
“While most of the works are paintings, and there are many beautiful gems amongst them, artists have also explored different media techniques, often for the first time through regional arts workshops,” curator Maggie Fletcher says of Our Mob.
“For example, there is an etched glass plate, ceramic, batik, charcoal drawing and carved mulga wood.”
The Our Mob program, which opened on Friday, features works by 90 artists across four exhibitions, including the main Our Mob show in the Festival Centre’s Artspace Gallery, and three exhibitions in the Festival Theatre foyer: Our Young Mob (comprising work by young artists under 18); Our Mob Contemporary – In Our Hands (a curated installation and photographic display), and the Don Dunstan Showcase (works by last year’s Don Dunstan Foundation Emerging Artist award winner Josina Nyarpingka Pumani).
Fletcher says 2016 Our Mob artists have explored themes around their country and its stories, as well as family connections.
“Many artists seem to be responding to changes in country after recent rains and the explosion of colour and flowers.
“Many artists are also exploring the use of art to express hard times in their lives and the way making art has helped them to turn their lives around.”
More than 90 artists are showing their work in Our Mob.
One artist whose work ties together several different themes is Robert Fielding, who has spent the past 20 years living in the remote Aboriginal community of Mimili but grew up in Port Augusta, where he experienced “a high level of racism”. His photography and installation-based show In Our Hands looks at how Indigenous communities have re-purposed western objects, as well as the issue of land rights.
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“He is looking at his country in a new way through discarded objects and photographic images of his country around the small APY Lands community of Mimili,” says Fletcher.
“Robert pushes his art in new directions, exploring not only traditional themes of country, but incorporating contemporary life, to show that the future of their community is in their hands.”
Emerging artist Nyarpingka Pumani, also from Mimili, has spent the past 12 months combining her painting practice with new techniques of photography and digital media, with the results on show in her series My Country, My Family.
‘My Country, My Family’, by Josina Nyarpingka Pumani.
“Josina has manipulated images of her country to incorporate portrait photography of close family members and her own paintings (both watercolour and acrylic),” says Fletcher.
“The final works allow us to better experience the way Josina and her community see that the land and family are one and the same.”
The Our Mob exhibitions run until November 26, with three prizes being awarded: The Don Dunstan Our Mob Emerging Artist Prize, worth $5000; the CASA Regional Our Mob Emerging Artist Professional Development Award, worth $1500, and the AnanguKu Our Young Mob Prize.
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