Painted Country – a new major exhibition featuring the work of five First Nations artists – is now open at the Manningham Art Gallery in Doncaster.
The artists – Nellie Ngampa Coulthard, Brenda Napaltjarri, Clara Napurrula, Rene Sundown and Adrian Jurra Tjungurrayi – bring diverse practices and perspectives to reveal their unique depictions of the Australian landscape in their work.
The senior and emerging artists represent two Indigenous arts centres – Iwantja Arts in South Australia and Papunya Tula Artists in the Northern Territory.
The exhibition has been timed to coincide with National Reconciliation Week, which is held each year from 27 May to 3 June, with the 2025 theme Bridging Now to Next.
Aboriginal writer, artist, arts worker and Aboriginal affairs advocate from Cape York Peninsula Jack Wilki-Jans has described the 14 artworks featured in Painted Country as “hypnotic visions” of the artists’ Country.
“Visions of a wide country, a country of colour and texture, of sand dunes and salt lakes, scorched earth and radiant sunsets, of brushes and sweeping tufts of grasses with flowers – Australia!” Jack Wilki-Jans said.
“It isn’t the hand that paints which this exhibition exalts, it’s the eyes which see.”
This celebration of First Nations contemporary painting is presented in collaboration with Alcaston Art Gallery, with special thanks to the artists, Iwantja Arts in South Australia and Papunya Tula Artists in the Northern Territory.
Join us for Art at Dusk
Thursday 22 May
5.00pm to 8.00pm
You’re invited to an exclusive after-hours event to celebrate Painted Country on Thursday 22 May, ahead of National Reconciliation Week.
Drop in anytime between 5.00pm and 8.00pm to see the exhibition, with Manningham Mayor, Cr Deirdre Diamante, formally opening the evening at 5.30pm.
There will also be the opportunity to see our installation for Melbourne Design Week, Beyond the Table: The Dinner Party Reimagined, by local artists Isobel Goodman and Jade Piltz.
Gallery opening hours
Manningham Art Gallery, 687 Doncaster Road, Doncaster, is open Wednesday to Saturday, 11.00am to 4.00pm.