Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program

10/10/2025

Applications close soon!

28/02/2025

Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is open

'The spear is our culture … we live by the spear. We are teaching our young people with spears to look after lore and culture. The spears can protect Country, like they have always been protecting Country for our grandfathers and our ancestors.' Mumu Mike Williams

Kulata Tjuta is an ongoing cultural maintenance project that shares the skills of carving and making the punu kulata (wooden spear) across generations. It started as a project involving a small group of men in Amata and has grown to include over 100 Aṉangu men across the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Kulata Tjuta: Tirkilpa is the largest and most significant installation of the culturally important and visually spectacular Kulata Tjuta (Many Spears) Project.
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/kulata-tjuta-tirkilpa/

19/11/2024

15 First Nations art professionals have been selected to participate in the 2024 Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program at the National Gallery of Australia.

The program brings together a group of emerging and established arts professionals with varying backgrounds and areas of expertise to enhance their industry knowledge and network and develop new skills.

Maggie-Jean Douglas, Kabi Kabi people/South Sea Islander
Madeline Poll, Torres Strait Islander people/South Sea Islander
Dominic Guerrera, Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna peoples
Desirai Saunders, Gunggari people
Sandy Harvey, Kalkadoon people
Summer Sorensen, Darumbal/Torres Strait Islander peoples
Georgia Hoskinson, Badtjala / Butchulla peoples
Noah Watson, Butchulla & Kuku-Yalanji peoples
Nicola Ingram, Palawa/Wiradjuri people
Rodriguez Pindiying Wilson Nalorlman, Thyemirri people
Carly Lane, Murri people
Sylvia Wilson, Martu people
Shanysa McConville, Eastern Arrernte people
Marcus Wright, Wiradjuri/Gamilaraay peoples
Shane Nelson, Wiradjuri/Walgalu/Gumbaynggirr peoples

The Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program is made possible by the Gallery's First Nations Arts Partner Wesfarmers Arts

09/11/2024

'Blue is the colour of memory and is associated with water; it washes over me. Waanyi people are known as 'running water people' because of the inherent quality of the water in their country.' Judy Watson, 2007

Blue is an important colour to Watson and features prominently in many of her works. Watson associates blue with memory, a conduit for the subconscious. Blue also represents the colour of the coloniser, found in both British and Australian uniforms and flags. In this work, Watson uses bright white paint to highlight three ambiguous shapes laying on a base of iridescent blue pigment wash. The work can be read in different ways: for example, the large vertical line could represent either a hat pin and awl or a digging stick, depending on whether it is being viewed from an Aboriginal or coloniser perspective.

The work signifies the military and the open wounds inflicted on Aboriginal people. It also offers a strong counterpoint to the colonial experience through the expression of

Visit Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, free
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/ever-present/


Judy Watson, Waanyi people, stake 2010, The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, Boorloo/Perth

01/11/2024

NEXT FRIDAY Art Live!

Featuring
Workshops with artists Brian Robinson, Maluyligal/Wuthathi/Dayak peoples and Jessika Spencer, Wiradjuri people

Music line up
6pm – Tahalianna
6.30pm – Femme Normale
7pm – Lemonise
7.45pm – Batjula

and MORE

If you're 15–25 years old, join us up late at the Gallery
Fri 8 Nov 2024
5.30–9pm

FREE, please book
https://nga.gov.au/events/art-live-/

04/10/2024

Applications for the Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Art Leadership Program close this Sunday 6 October for arts and culture workers.

In 2024, the Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program will focus on leadership within Community and the arts and culture sector. Participants will also engage with local museums and galleries and First Nations Leaders and Leadership Program alumni to develop professional and leadership skills and networks within the arts sector.

Get your applications in!

Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program. The program plays a leading role in building capacity within the arts sector through leadership, professional development and mentorship opportunities for First Nations arts professionals.

01/10/2024

Dhiraamalang (pronunciation: Dirra/ma/lung) is a Ngambri/Kamberri, Walgalu & Wiradyuri word meaning leader, spokesman, law giver, teacher.

Applications for Dhiraamalang: Wesfarmers First Nations Arts Leadership Program are open for one more week. Apply by 6 Oct.

Supported by Wesfarmers Arts, Dhiraamalang is ‘a life changing experience’, offering cultural and professional development over a 10-day residency program in Kamberri/Canberra on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country specifically for First Nations arts workers.

Find out more and apply
https://nga.gov.au/first-nations/leadership-program/

Paul Girrawah House, Ngambri/Ngunnawal peoples, work in progress, Kamberri/Canberra, 2021 © the artist.

30/09/2024

After a lifetime of weaving and producing fibre craft, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori began to paint when she was in her early 80s. The artist uses sweeping brushstrokes overlaid with solid masses of colour that capture the essence of her island homeland. This work is about Dingkari, an outside hunting ground off the southern end of Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Surrounded by deep water, Dingkari is a shallow reef and an excellent place to hunt dugong and turtle.

Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, free
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/ever-present/


Sally Gabori, Dibirdibi country, 2012, Wesfarmers Arts Collection © Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori/Copyright Agency, 2024

23/09/2024

Art is a tool of resistance. It replaces physical weaponry with wit, satire and juxtaposition.

See more than 260 works in Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, now open and free
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/ever-present/

12/09/2024

New acquisition 🐕‍🦺

'The artist contemplates a future where art doesn’t work out. As a career change he starts a dog walking business. He thinks the fresh air will be good for his mind and suntan.' Billy Bain

See the largest exhibition of First Nations art to be held in Kamberri/Canberra with over 260 works in Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia. Including Billy Bain's Dog Walker (Plan B).
https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/ever-present/

Billy Bain, Darug people, Dog Walker (Plan B), 2023, purchased 2024, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra ©️Billy Bain