Tarnanthi: The Art Gallery of South Australia
Tarnanthi (pronounced tar-nan-dee) is The Art Gallery of South Australia’s annual showcase of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art from across the country. In 2019 it will feature over 1000 artists from across the nation, curated by Barkindji artist and curator Nici Cumpston. This year’s showcase coincides with the fourth Tarnanthi Art Fair, drawn from 50 art centres across the country, including Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Tarnanthi Art Fair provides visitors with the opportunity to acquire works of art, with 100% of the proceeds going to the artists and art centres. The 2019 exhibition includes artists ranging from 15 to 81 years of age, with work spanning painting, photography, printmaking, carving, sculpture, moving image, works on paper and textiles. Works by Yol?u artists form a key component of the AGSA exhibition; Gurru?u (a title for a knowledge system that connects people and the universe across time) includes work from artists working through Buku-Larr?gay Mulka Centre, at Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land. Guest curated by Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones, Bunha-bunhanga: Aboriginal agriculture in the south-east is the first ever representation through visual art of the research into pre-colonial land-use practices by award-winning Australian author and academic historian Bruce Pascoe. Jones unites historical landscape paintings and drawings from around the country with rarely seen Aboriginal agricultural tools from museum collections. A number of projects from the APY Lands will also be featured in Tarnanthi 2019, from moving-image works to photography, installation, sculpture and painting. Tarnanthi runs from October 18, 2019 to January 27, 2020.
