Welcome to Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia. My name is Tina Baum, I am a Larrakia/Wardaman/Karajarri woman and the Senior Curator of First Nations Art here at the Gallery and the curator of the Ever Present exhibition.
This exhibition is shown on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country of Kamberri/Canberra and the surrounding ACT region and is a survey of historical and contemporary works by more than 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from different cultural groups across Australia.
Aboriginal Australians are the First Peoples of mainland Australia, Tasmania and the surrounding islands, while the people of the Torres Strait Islands are from a group of islands that lie between Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
Many of the works in this exhibition mention the Dreaming, an all-encompassing worldview of spiritual beliefs, cultural knowledge and creation stories held by many Communities of First Peoples in Australia. However, we should note that the word Dreaming is a Western term that oversimplifies the complexity of worldviews by distinct groups.
Regardless, these beliefs are an integral part of everyday life, and draw on the notions of connections to Country, culture, Community, and family. While some of the knowledge passed down in creation stories is shared with the public, certain parts of Dreaming stories are considered to be secret-sacred, accessible only to specific members of a Community or cultural group.
The works in this exhibition are an expression of deeply rooted cultural beliefs, and many of the artists featured have created art about the Dreaming and their Ancestors as it strengthens their cultural connections and keeps their knowledge alive.
Some of the works also explore the effect of colonialisation on Aboriginal and Torres Islander people, and how it affects them now and into the future.
To begin your journey, please step forward into the gallery and enjoy, the Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia exhibition.
