*Federal Election on 18 May:
If you’d like to vote on your way to/from this event, the closest voting station is at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS), located at 57 Miles Street, Southbank VIC 3006. It’s just off Sturt Street, approx. 300m from ACCA. Read more information here.
Join us in the galleries for a series of public discussions that engage with various works in Tom Nicholson: Public Meeting. Through friendly exchange, personal reflection and public interrogation this series of ‘Public Meetings’ with artist Tom Nicholson and members of the arts and cultural community will delve into a wide range of issues including multiplicity in cultural histories, legacies of colonisation and the role of the monument in public space and discourse.
In Public Meeting: Gorge Photographs/Namatjira-Battarbee, Tom Nicolson’s work Gorge Photograph, 13 September 1939 2017-19 will serve as a point of departure for discussion with academic John Kean and ACCA Curator Hannah Presley, along with the artist Tom Nicholson. Gorge Photograph, 13 September 1939 is the reimagining of a specific place and time, highlighting the complex relationship between Victorian watercolourist Rex Battarbee and Western Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira.
Listen to the podcast
Speakers:
Tom Nicholson is one of the most prominent Australian artists on the international stage. Tom Nicholson’s work has been exhibited in major international exhibitions including the Gwangju Biennale, 2018; Biennale of Sydney, 2006 and 2018; The National, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2017; Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, UK, 2016; Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, 2015; the Qalandiya International, West Bank and Gaza, 2012, 2014 and 2016; Shanghai Biennale 2012; among others. He is a Senior Lecturer at Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University, Melbourne, and is represented by Milani Gallery.
John Kean was Art Advisor at Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd from 1977-79, the inaugural Exhibition Coordinator at Tandanya: the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, 1989-92, Exhibition Coordinator, Fremantle Art Centre 1993-96 and Producer at Museum Victoria 1996 -2010. John is currently undertaking a PhD in Art History at the University of Melbourne. John has published extensively on Indigenous art and the representation of nature in Australian museums.
Hannah Presley is an Aboriginal curator based in Melbourne, with family connections in Alice Springs and Peppimenarti in the Northern Territory. She is currently the inaugural curator for the Yalingwa program at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Presley was First Nations Curatorial Assistant for My Horizon: Tracey Moffatt at the 57th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2017. Her practice focuses on the development of creative projects with Aboriginal artists, working closely with artists, learning about the techniques, history and community that informs their making to help guide her curatorial process.
