2021 Tarnanthi Festival will present the work of 1000 artists

The Art Gallery of South Australia today unveiled details of the 2021 festival, which opens on October 14 with a live performance by electronic duo Electric Fields with Antara inma singers and First Nations Dance Collective – Tjarutja.

Until January 30, 2022, Tarnanthi will showcase works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia – including painting, photography, weaving, sculpture, film, installations and multimedia works. – with over 30 exhibits at venues in Adelaide and across regional South Australia.

The Tarnanthi Art Fair, a popular annual event with all proceeds going to artists and their community-run art centers, will this year be billed as an online-only event, with dates to be confirmed. Although the art gallery has previously indicated that the 2021 fair will take place at a new location at Torrens Parade Ground, it has made the decision to move it online to expand its reach and ensure it can continue regardless. are the restrictions in force.

“Storytelling is at the heart of the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, and Tarnanthi provides us with an opportunity to listen,” Tarnanthi Artistic Director Nici Cumpston said of the Tarnanthi Festival.

“If we give them our full attention, they can transport us through time and country, in different ways of seeing and understanding. “

AGSA will present 27 projects for Tarnanthi, including an exhibition entitled Mutaka (motor car), in which artists from the Irrunytju desert (near the SA / WA border) share their stories about salvaged and painted car parts. It will also show paintings and moving images by artist Yankunytjatjara Kaylene Whiskey, whose practice fuses pop culture and traditional knowledge, and Walmajarri artist John Prince Siddon, who has created a suite of ‘psychedelic’ paintings. »On canvas, ox skulls and kangaroo skins commenting on environmental, social and political issues.

Other highlights of AGSA include a bamboo installation by multidisciplinary artist Gail Mabo, which recalibrates traditional navigation charts used by Torres Strait Islanders and pays homage to its famous late father, the activist of the Torres Strait. land rights Eddie Koiki Mabo, and a large triptych painting by 2021, Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) winner Timo Hogan from his homeland, Lake Baker, in the Great Victoria Desert.

APY Gallery in Light Square will present Ngura Pulka – Epic Land, an augmented reality experience featuring artist Matjangka Norris who will transport visitors to Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) land.

Kaurna’s senior man, Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien, describes the Tarnanthi Festival as “our opportunity to experience the wonders of culture in many spaces and places”.

“And it is through our observing eyes, our attentive and inquiring ears, and our acting bodies, that we will emerge as an integral part of the Tarnanthi Festival and that we will rise together.

This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.