The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) will take a touring exhibition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art to Asia in 2020.
The exhibition, Indigenous Australian Masterpieces, is part of a six-year, $4 million partnership with its longstanding Indigenous Arts partner, Wesfarmer Arts. The exhibition will be co-curated between the organisations and respective collections and will travel to Singapore and cities in China.
It will include rare works from the 1800s through to Albert Namatjira’s renowned watercolours, the dynamic Papunya movement, and contemporary works of Australia’s best artists. The project will be an Indigenous-led and developed initiative – providing an opportunity for alumni of the Wesfarmers Arts Indigenous Arts Leadership Program to work on the international stage.
The partnership will also involve the commissioning of a major new work of art that will be gifted to the NGA. Other developments include:
- a new digital platform that celebrates and promotes Indigenous art and culture;
- video content to grow audiences and share stories related to the partnership presentation of the National Indigenous Art Triennial;
- year-round Indigenous events and programming that seek to educate and inspire audiences and build Indigenous community engagement with the NGA;
- growing and strengthening the leadership, scholarship and fellowship programs to increase Indigenous participation in the arts sector in Australia and internationally in collaboration with global museum partners.