9 Feb – 27 May @ Art Gallery of WA ·
Presented by Art Gallery of WA, various artists
and Kimberley art centres ·

Desert River Sea: Portraits of the Kimberley is the highly anticipated culmination of the Art Gallery of WA’s six-year Kimberley visual arts project, supported by Rio Tinto. This landmark exhibition showcasing the vibrant and contemporary creative talent of Kimberley artists opens with a cultural celebration on 9 February 2019.

New works from six Kimberley art centres and three independent artists will be presented alongside a selection of legacy works from art centre collections. Together with works from AGWA’s collection, the exhibition offers a rare experience of the land, artists and art of the Kimberley.

Artists and art centres represented in the Desert River Sea exhibition
include: Darrell & Garry Sibosado (Lombadina); Daniel Walbidi (Bidyadanga);
Kira Kiro Art Centre (Kalumburu) and artist collectives from Mangkaja
Arts Resource Agency (Fitzroy Crossing); Mowanjum Aboriginal Art & Culture
Centre (Mowanjum); Waringarri Aboriginal Arts (Kununurra); Warlayirti
Artists (Balgo); and Warmun Art Centre (Warmun).

The exhibition has been shaped by the people and the places of the Kimberley. Artists and art centres have embraced the opportunity to share their stories of country and lived experience through innovative contemporary art practice.

Opening Weekend Cultural Celebration | FREE
10am-5pm, 9 February 2019
Join AGWA for an unmissable celebration of Kimberley culture with artist talks and art demonstrations, cultural performances, and family activities.

On Sacred Ground Screening & Talk
6pm, Sunday 24 February | FREE
Perth Cultural Centre Screen and Northbridge Screen

Attend a special screening of the 1980 documentary On Sacred Ground with a keynote introduction by the film’s original narrator Ribnga Green Snr.

Q&A at 6pm
Film at 6.30pm
Concludes at 7.30pm

Politically censored by the Federal government for several years after its production, the film explores the importance of Country to Aboriginal people and investigates the well-publicised Aboriginal struggle to stop mining at Noonkanbah Station, an Aboriginal owned cattle station in the Kimberley, during the late 1970s. On Sacred Ground captures a particular moment in time for the Kimberley, however, echoes contemporary political negotiations.

On Sacred Ground is also screening at AGWA from 9 Feb – 20 May 2019, as part of the Desert River Sea exhibition.

More info
W: www.artgallery.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/desert-river-sea-exhibition-experience.asp
E:  admin@artgallery.wa.gov.au

Pictured:  Sonia Kurarra Noonkanbah Highway 2018 (detail). Synthetic polymer on cow hide, 140 x 268 cm. Courtesy Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency.