Indigenous Australian Art On Tour At Artspace Mackay

Mackay region art followers can experience more than 60 contemporary and historical works from the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Indigenous Australian Art collection when the exhibition ‘I, Object’ tours Artspace Mackay from January 18 to March 30.

‘I, Object’ features contemporary painting, sculpture and installation by leading Queensland artists Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Michael Boiyool Anning, Fiona Foley, Danie Mellor, Christian Thompson, Warraba Weatherall and others, alongside 20 historical shields, boomerangs and clubs.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said ‘I, Object’ was an exhibition first developed by Bruce Johnson McLean, former Curator of Indigenous Australian Art at QAGOMA, and shown at the Gallery of Modern Art from August 2020 to August 2021.

“We’re really thrilled this iteration of ‘I, Object’ will now tour to audiences in regional Queensland including Rockhampton, Caboolture, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Cairns and Mackay,” Mr Saines said.

“‘I, Object’ considers the many complex relationships Indigenous Australian artists continue to have with objects – from the histories informing their creation to the social and cultural consequences of their collection,” he said.

“The exhibition demonstrates the great pride and inspiration of inherited cultural practices and historical Indigenous objects, and reveals the difficulties posed by their collection and estrangement.”

Deputy Mayor Karen May said it was exciting to have this significant exhibition of Indigenous Australian Art at our gallery.

“We’re grateful to QAGOMA for touring this exhibition to our gallery, providing an opportunity for us all to experience this important expression of identity, culture and connection,” Cr May said.

“This exhibition will run alongside three others opening in our Foundation and Foyer galleries also from January 18,” she said.

Thea Anamara Perkins: Dualities will be in the Foundation Gallery. These works incorporate portraiture and landscape to question representations of First Nations peoples and Country.
Danish Quapoor is a multidisciplinary artist based in Townsville. He is known for his distinctive flat-colour works which employ narratives that interrogate personal identity.
Quapoor’s mural installation ‘departed’, on the gallery’s foyer wall, will reflect upon departures from environments, situations and relationships.

Anneke Silver’s Iconic Moments will be in the Foyer Gallery and features expressive brush strokes of rich outback colour. They explore relationships between symbol and experience – the everyday and the extraordinary.

A behind-the-scenes look as the Artspacecuratorial team prepares an installation
‘I, Object’
Thea Anamara Perkins: Dualities

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