Stolen Generation: The Ungrateful, a painting by Julie Dowling featured in a touring art exhibition from Australia.
Message Stick: Indigenous Identity in Urban Australia
The exhibition showcases 21 paintings and photographs created by more than 10 Indigenous urban artists over the last 25 years. All the artworks are from Australian Government’s Artbank collection.
In his foreword to the exhibition’s catalogue, Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bob Carr says: “The exhibition underlines the vitality, energy and innovation of Indigenous communities and artists. It takes audiences beyond the popular contemporary Indigenous art movement of the Western Desert to the personal experiences of life in urbanised Australia.”
The exhibition highlights first hand experiences of discrimination and dispossession, evident in the work of the senior artists, while the younger generation of artists present a fresh perspective on contemporary society and what it means to be an Indigenous person in Australia today.
Featured artists include Ian W Abdulla, Brook Andrew, Richard Bell, Robert Campbell Jnr, Julie Dowling, Adam Hill, Danie Mellor, Christian Thompson, Reko Rennie, Darren Siwes, and H.J Wedge.
The exhibition is presented by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in partnership with Artbank. It has toured New Caledonia and African countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya over the last two years, and is currently on an Asian tour.