BOOMALLI 20 YEARS ON - Art Gallery of New South Wales · 2010. 9. 3. · Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007 Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in Australia, Art Gallery of

AUSTRALIAN COLLECTION FOCUS ROOMART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 22 AUGUST – 28 OCTOBER 2007

BOOMALLI 20 YEARS ON

ARTGALLERY

NSW

Art Gallery of New South Wales Australian Collection Focus Room Boomalli: 20 years on

BOOMALLI ’TO MAKE A MARK’

Urban Aboriginal culture, problematic in its definition, was notionallyconceived by the dispossession of the Eora people from theirtraditional homelands with the establishment of the British colony in Sydney in 1788, only footsteps from the present day location of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Survivors of the colonialabuse, trained in the school of hard knocks, translated their culturalidentity and knowledge to become bi-cultural participants.Woollarawarre Bennelong is just one example of these culturalplayers. Quickly becoming one of Sydney’s cultural icons he wasknown for working the system. Bennelong, after being abductedand held hostage by the colonial forces, politically aligned himselfwith the colony’s first Governor, Author Phillip, eventually referringto him as beanga (father) and in turn was called durung (son) withinan act of binding kinship. This turbulent relationship and others that Bennelong and his peers formed, often on their terms, werepart of a new cultural emergence, that of an urbanised Aboriginalagenda, one sadly underpinned and all too often driven by survival.

Artists from the local La Perouse community, formallyestablished as a mission settlement in 1895, continued this crosscultural dialogue with the production of cultural objects for touristsin the early twentieth century, including boomerangs, shields, flowerand shell work. Traditional practices of carving and assemblagewere translated for new cultural outcomes. Today, descendants,including the Timbery and Simms families, still sell their goods atthe ‘loop’ at La Perouse maintaining their unique cultural practicesin an ever changing urban landscape. This ability to successfullyfunction within the mainstream community is often met with illinformed notions of ‘culture dilution’.

Appropriately Sydney has become the axis for this newmovement coined ‘urban Aboriginal culture’, not only being thepoint of origin but also the destination for waves of Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander migrations. People coming to Sydney, oftenseeking a better life from their rural hardships, have added to the

development of the urban cultural milieu and in turn have been thecatalyst for the establishment of the Aboriginal community ofRedfern located in the heart of the city. Relocating from one’shomeland generates a new sense of identity and an assertion ofbelonging within the adopted community. This profound sense ofcommunity led to the formation of many Black institutions that havechampioned Indigenous rights throughout the country including the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Black Theatre, the AboriginalLegal Service and the Aboriginal Housing Company, and in turngiving rise to urban Aboriginal culture’s feared political edge.

However, urban Aboriginal culture has largely been seen asillegitimate, not the exciting culmination of bi-culturalisum but asthe bastard half-caste with the only perceived redeeming featurebeing that of assimilation. It is this lack of acknowledgment, thisconstant assault, and the notion that urban Aboriginal culture is notauthentic or traditional that led to the formation of one of Australia’slongest running, Black or white, artists co-operatives. BoomalliAboriginal Artist Co-operative (originally Ko-operative) was foundedin 1987 by what could only be described as Sydney’s Black avant-garde, the ten founding members included Brenda L Croft,Bronwyn Bancroft, Euphemia Bostock, Fiona Foley, FernandaMartins, Arone Raymond Meeks, Avril Quaill, Jeffery Samuels andcultural mavericks Michael Riley and Tracey Moffatt. Earlier thatyear Moffatt was arrested in Portsmouth, England, while protestingat the Launch of the First Fleet to commemorate the Bicentenary.This pioneering group of artists had largely met while undertakingtertiary art education or exhibiting together in forerunning projectssuch as Contemporary Aboriginal art in 1983, Koorie art ’84,NADOC ’86 Exhibition of Aboriginal and Islander Photographersand Urban Koories in 1986.

Plagued by the perpetual issues of recognition andacknowledgment that have dogged Australia’s history, these tenartists set out to provide a platform for the long over looked urban


BOOMALLI ’TO STRIKE’

visual culture. In doing so Boomalli confronted head-on the lack ofrepresentation of urban Aboriginal art within the wider art sceneand stereotyped notions of Aboriginal culture created through lackof knowledge and the harvesting of historically based preconceivedideas. Boomalli means ‘to strike back’, ‘to make a mark’, ‘to lightup’ in the languages of Kamilaroi, Wiradjuri and Bundjalung. Sinceits inception the organisation and its artists have continued to liveup to its name. Originally working towards providing studio spaceand peer support Boomalli’s inaugural exhibition Boomalli au-go-goin 1997 heralded a new cultural era and set a benchmark byacknowledging the reality of urban Aboriginal culture. Critical to itsestablishment was the funding support of the then Aboriginal artBoard of the Australia Council. Finally having a physical presencewithin the urban heartland of Redfern/Chippendale on MeagherStreet, urban Aboriginal artists had a destination, a rallying point.Michael Riley captured the dynamic energy of these early years in his film Boomalli: Five Koorie artists, commissioned by FilmAustralia in 1988.

As lonely outpost of urban Aboriginal art, Boomalli focused onits development and promotion. As such most urban Black artistsfrom around Australia have been touched or in some way linked tothis cultural institution and become part of its growing community.Being an urban art centre and not bound geographically by region,Boomalli’s responsibilities encompass and engage with large partsof the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community includinginmates, gay/lesbian, rural and remote artists along withinternational indigenous artists and artists of colour engagedthrough dialogue, exchange and exhibitions. Formative exhibitionsincluded the pairing of two great narrative painters who lived withinrural communities in Ian Abdulla (Ngarrindjeri) & Harry Wedge(Wiradjuri) and the women’s exhibition Kudjeris with Brenda L Croftand the then emerging artists Destiny Deacon and Lisa Bellear,both curated by Fiona Foley in 1991.

Later that year under the curatorship of Hetti Perkins and AvrilQuaill, Boomalli collaborated with the Art Gallery of New SouthWales to celebrate the Sydney festival Dissonance: Feminism andthe arts with the Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition. Partnerships suchas this are an important part of Boomalli’s program, creating newaudiences and tour possibilities. Other partners have includedAustralian Centre for Photography, Sydney Opera House, IvanDougherty Gallery, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Sydney TheatreCompany and The Performance Space, who temporarily housedBoomalli on Cleveland Street. Under the auspice of The PerformanceSpace, Brenda L Croft opened her standout exhibition Strange Fruitin 1994 that focussed on the ‘icon’ of the urban black woman.

From 1992 to 1995 Boomalli entered its most progressive yearsunder the leadership of Brenda L Croft and Hetti Perkins, thisongoing collaboration saw a number of programs initiated includingthe international touring exhibition True Colours: Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander artists raise the flag, one of the firstinternational exhibitions of urban art in collaboration with INIVA(Institute for New International Visual Arts).

In 1992 Boomalli opened its new space on Abercrombie Streetwith HJ Wedge’s arresting solo exhibition Wiradjuri Spirit Man thatinstigated a monograph on the artist’s work. Publications were fastbecoming part of Boomalli’s agenda and often working inconjunction with the New South Wales Board of Studies printingessential readers on the previously unknown for school curriculum.It was on this site in Chippendale that HJ Wedge later painted hissignature mural that partly survives on the building today. Over timenew generations of artists have joined the forces of Boomalli, manyof which have come from TAFE’s Eora Arts Centre in Redfern,artists such as Elaine Russell and r e a. This continued regenerationof Boomalli has ensured its success along with the ongoing supportof established artists who have maintained strong connections withthe organisation.


BOOMALLI ’TO LIGHT UP’

During 1994–95 Daphne Wallace, then curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Walesadded to the Gallery’s collection of urban Aboriginal art that curatorin the field Djon Mundine and curator Hetti Perkins had established,by commissioning and purchasing a number of major works fromBoomalli in the lead up to the opening of the Yiribana gallery, including works by r e a, Elaine Russell, and Brenda L Croft. Boomalli, an Aboriginal initiative, an example of self determination,has developed substantially in not only supporting artists but in the professional development of Indigenous arts workers with many becoming key players within the industry. Of the foundingmembers, Avril Quaill worked at the National Gallery of Australiathen Queensland Art Gallery, while Brenda L Croft worked at the Art Gallery of Western Australian and is currently senior curator at the National Gallery of Australia.

Boomalli remains a key art institution yet it has specificallyturned its attention to the growing Aboriginal community withinwestern suburbs of Sydney. First taking temporary space onParramatta Road, Annandale, with Brad Webb as curator, Boomallinow resides in Leichhardt in its own building, responding to themovement of the community. During this time we have seen keyexhibitions such as Michael Riley’s Fly blown and Empire in 1999and the Mum Shirl: the Sacred Trust of Memory Exhibition in 2000.Curator Tracey Duncan and current curator Mathew Poll have each added to the organisation’s strength and development andoverseen this exciting yet turbulent transition.

For 20 years now Boomalli has been at the coal face of thedevelopment and education of urban Aboriginal culture, not onlyacting as a gallery but as an vehicle for social reform, constantlychallenging preconceptions and stereotypes held by mainstreamcommunity and becoming one Australia’s most important culturalestablishments. Perhaps the hesitation and misunderstandingsurrounding the definition of urban Aboriginal art by the mainstream

is generated by the fact that it has not been sufficient opportunityto reach its full potential. Faced with the constantly struggle forfunding Boomalli is still confronted with such notions that not onlyhave serious implications for contemporary Aboriginal communitiesbut all of Australia. However it is these setbacks that not onlydefine Boomalli’s identity but ensure its successes that of oneworking in-between spaces, of pushing the boundaries, of strikingback, of making a mark and lighting the fire.

Jonathan Jones, Coordinator Aboriginal Programs

FURTHER READING

One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia,Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007

Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in Australia,Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007

Croft, Brenda L ‘Boomalli: from little things big things grow’ in Taylor, L. (ed.), Painting the Land Story, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, ACT, 1999, pp 95–119

www.boomalli.org.au

Boomalli: 20 years onAustralian Collection Focus RoomArt Gallery of New South Wales22 August – 28 October 2007

cover: Michael Riley Maria 1985© Michael Riley Foundation


BRONWYN BANCROFTis a Bundjalung artist fromnorthern NSW who is now based in Sydney. Bancroft wasinterested in art from a young age and after graduating fromCanberra School of Art in 1980,established the companyDesigner Aboriginals to markether unique textiles, jewellery and fashion. Bancroft is alsorecognised for her paintings and illustrations. Featuringphotographs the artist, You don’teven look Aboriginal 1991 is a personal condemnation ofethnographic stereotypes, whichinsult many Aboriginal people by inferring that their assertion of Aboriginal identity is fraudulent.As Bancroft has said, ‘Once wewere punished for being black,now we’re punished for not being black enough’.

BRENDA L CROFT has been equally successful asan artist and curator. A memberof the Gurindji and Mutpurracommunities of the NorthernTerritory, Croft first exhibited herhighly personal photographs inthe landmark 1986 exhibitionContemporary Aboriginal andIslander photography at theAboriginal Artists Gallery, Sydney.She has since been awardednumerous overseas exchanges,residencies and awards. Herwork was included in Mistakenidentities at Africus ’95, the firstJohannesburg Biennale, and The boundary rider, the 9thBiennale of Sydney, in 1992,where she collaborated withAfrican-American artist AdrianPiper. Croft is a founding memberof Boomalli and was its generalmanager from 1990 to 1996. She later worked at the ArtGallery of Western Australia,Perth, and is now the seniorcurator of Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander Art at the NationalGallery of Australia, Canberra.

FIONA FOLEY explores history, memory andpolitics in her work, mapping themany layers of contemporaryIndigenous experience inAustralia. A graduate of SydneyCollege of the Arts, Foley initiallyworked with prints, collage andphotography. More recently she has created large sculpturalinstallations and a number ofpublic artworks, includingWitnessing to silence 2004 for the new Magistrates Court in Brisbane. She has travelledwidely and the Men’s businessdrawings were inspired by a visitto Arnhem Land. With DjonMundine, Foley co-curatedTyerabarrbowaryaou (I shall neverbecome a white man) I and II,for the Museum of ContemporaryArt, Sydney, in 1992 and theHavana Biennial, Cuba, in 1994.Foley curated some of the firstand groundbreaking exhibitions at Boomalli. In 2003 she wasappointed adjunct professor atGriffith University’s QueenslandCollege of Art.

ARONE RAYMOND MEEKSis a Kokomidiji artist from the East Cape region of far northQueensland, around Laura. His first name, Arone, refers tothe black crane and was given to him by the renownedAboriginal ceramicist Thanakupi.Meeks studied at AlexanderMackie College of AdvancedEducation and City Art Institute,Sydney. He began his work inprintmaking after meeting TheoTremblay at Canberra School ofArt. In 1989 Meeks was awardeda residency at Cité des Arts inParis and in 1992 received theEzra Jack Keats UNICEF BestInternational Children’s BookAward for his book Enora: theblack crane. Meeks now lives in north Queensland.

ARTISTS


TRACEY MOFFATT is one of Australia’s mostacclaimed artists, both nationallyand internationally. A filmmakeras well as photographer, Moffattgrew up in Brisbane and afterstudying at Queensland Collegeof Art, moved to Sydney tofurther her career. Preferring towork independently, Moffatt leftBoomalli shortly after thecooperative was founded yetcontinued to support its activities.Moffatt held her first major soloexhibition, which included theiconic series Something more,at the Australian Centre forPhotography, Sydney, in 1989.She has since held around 100 solo exhibitions in Europe,the United States and Australia,including the major surveyexhibition Free falling at the Dia Center for the Arts, NewYork, in 1998. A number ofmonographs have beenpublished on Moffatt’s work. She now divides her timebetween Australia and her base in New York.

MICHAEL RILEY was a photographer andfilmmaker with a rare sensibility.After leaving his hometown ofDubbo, NSW, Riley enrolled in a photographic course at the University of Sydney’s Tin Sheds, and was soonemployed as a darkroomtechnician at Sydney College ofthe Arts. Riley’s works, includingMaria 1985, were included in the significant exhibitionContemporary Aboriginal andIslander photography held in1986 at the Aboriginal ArtistsGallery, Sydney. His first film,Boomalli: five Koorie artists 1987 was made during his timeat Film Australia. Following hissuccess in Australia, Riley wasincluded in the significantinternational exhibitions,Photographica Australis at ARCO in Spain, the IstanbulBiennale 2003 and in 2004 hewas awarded one of three grandprizes at the 11th Asian ArtBiennale, Bangladesh. Riley isone of eight artists featured in the Australian Indigenous ArtCommission for the Musée duQuai Branly, Paris, in 2006. Also in 2006 the National Gallery of Australia opened theretrospective of Riley’s work,Michael Riley: sights unseen.

JEFFREY SAMUELS was born in Bourke, NSW, andfollowing the tragic death of hismother grew up with a whitefoster family. Samuels received anAboriginal study grant to study artat both the National Art Schooland Alexander Mackie College ofAdvanced Education, where hewas awarded a Diploma in Art in 1978. He then completed aBachelor of Visual Art in 1984through the City Art Institute,Sydney. Since joining Boomalli as a founding member, Samuelshas continued to play an activerole in the organisation as anartist and member of staff. He is its current chairperson.

BRONWYN BANCROFT b1958 Bundjalung, Sydney, South-east region

You don’t even look Aboriginal 1991gouache and collage on paperMollie Gowing Acquisition Fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1993© Bronwyn Bancroft


FIONA FOLEY b1964 Batjala, Brisbane, North-east region

Men’s business 1987crayon and charcoal on paperPurchased 1988© Fiona Foley


FIONA FOLEY b1964 Batjala, Brisbane, North-east region

Men’s business 1987crayon and charcoal on paperPurchased 1988© Fiona Foley



TRACEY MOFFATT b1960 Brisbane, North-east region/New York

Something More 2 1989cibachrome photographHallmark Cards Australian Photography Collection Fund 1989. Commissioned by theAlbury Regional Arts Centre with assistance from the Visual/Craft Board of the AustraliaCouncil, the NSW Ministry for the Arts, and the Regional Galleries Association of NSWExhibitions Development Fund. © Tracey Moffatt, courtesy Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

MICHAEL RILEY 1960–2004 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region/Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region

Maria 1985gelatin silver photographMollie Gowing Acquisition Fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1999© Michael Riley Foundation


BRENDA L CROFT b1964 Gurindji/Mutpurra, Fitzmaurice region, Canberra, South-east region

Mary Mumbulla and Murri Craigie 1993R3 colour photographPurchased 1993 © Brenda L Croft


JEFFREY SAMUELS b1956 Sydney, South-east region

A changing continent c1986oil on hardboardPurchased 1986© Jeffrey Samuels


ARONE RAYMOND MEEKS b1957 Kokomidiji, Laura, East Cape region

‘Argoonie Doowi’ – The catching of the dream 1987lithographPurchased 1988© Arone Raymond Meeks


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BOOMALLI 20 YEARS ON - Art Gallery of New South Wales · 2010. 9. 3. · Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007 Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in Australia, Art Gallery of