In Heels and Walking the wall Angela Tiatia explores the stereotyping of Pacific female bodies. When Tiatia moved in the early 2000s to Australia from Auckland, with its vibrant contemporary Pacific art scene, she became part of a relatively smaller group of contemporary artists with Pacific heritage. The video works she developed around this time engaged directly with experiences of physical endurance, voyeurism and of being on the outside, as well as the effort required to assert a contemporary Pacific identity in Australia. The works also continued the artist’s exploration of structures and ..read more

QAGOMA’s free monthly Art & This Place tours invite you to grow your knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture. The Gallery recently welcomed Kalkadoon woman and artist Sandy Harvey as the new facilitator of these tours. Harvey spoke with Hannah Grzesiak about her connection to the Gallery, and her passion for supporting artists and sharing their stories with the community. Paddy Bedford ‘Wirwirji – Police Hole’ 2004 Paddy Bedford, Gija people, Western Australia, Australia c.1922-2007 / Wirwirji – Police Hole 2004 / Natural pigments with acrylic binder on Belgian l ..read more

‘Seeds and Sovereignty’ at the Gallery of Modern Art until 18 August 2024, brings together works from the QAGOMA Indigenous Australian Art Collection that celebrate the interconnected relationships between plants, people and Country. The lessons embedded in cultural knowledge systems contain critical information about the collection and use of natural resources, ensuring safe consumption and plentiful harvests. Over countless generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples developed an intricate understanding of their Country’s unique environments and ideal ecological balance. Inter ..read more

Edward Coley Burne-Jones (28 August 1833-98) was admired as one of the greatest artists of Victorian Britain. In 1877, art critic and novelist Henry James thought Burne-Jones a remarkable colourist, although many of his works of the 1890s displayed a strong tendency for monochrome. ‘In the palace of art there are many chambers, and that of which Mr. Burne-Jones holds the key is a wondrous museum. His imagination, his fertility of invention, his exquisiteness of work, his remarkable gifts as a colourist—all these things constitute a brilliant distinction’. The Gallery’s painting Aurora 1896 was ..read more

This year, the QAGOMA Foundation Appeal invites support for the acquisition of leading Australian artist Jenny Watson’s extraordinary Private views and rear visions 2021–22. Until 7 July 2024, visitors to the Queensland Art Gallery can view this important work in Gallery 1.  Flashes of distant memories and glimpses of recent events are writ large in Private views and rear visions (illustrated). Comprising 48 paintings stacked along a wall, the work’s scale alludes to fresco paintings, with each frame holding an individual scene. These pictures are taken from Watson’s personal recolle ..read more

During a visit to the Gallery to view works by Joe Elenberg (1948‑80), Australian gallerist Anna Schwartz reflects on the creativity of the Australian artist and their shared life together, with a focus on QAGOMA’s commanding marble sculpture Totem 1979 (illustrated). Currently on display until 3 August 2025 at the Queensland Art Gallery in the the exhibition ‘Small figures’ is Rhinoceros head c.1977 (illustrated). Recently undergoing conservation and to respect Elenberg’s original vision for the work, all its parts have now been reunited as a whole and the bronze polished restoring the integr ..read more

As ‘mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri: Judy Watson’ opens at the Queensland Art Gallery, the QAGOMA Research Library unpacks the Judy Watson Artist File. Here, we explore some of the treasures of this artist’s ephemeral journey so far, from an invitation to the artist’s earliest solo exhibition — ‘bath icons’ (1986) (illustrated), held at Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education’s Switchback Gallery in Churchill, Victoria — to a hand-printed exhibition poster from ‘a sacred place for these bones’ (1989), held at the Central Theatres Gallery, Griffith University, Brisbane, the Artist file ..read more

Two large-scale paintings by Indigenous women from Central Desert communities in South Australia are currently on display in ‘Seeds and Sovereignty’ at the Gallery of Modern Art until 18 August 2024. Wawiriya Burton’s Ngayuku ngura – My Country 2018 and Nellie Ngampa Coulthard’s Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle) 2018 are vibrant compositions that hum with energy and evoke the colours and heat of desert sands. Burton and Coulthard are nationally significant contemporary painters whose colourful representations of their Country are shaping stylistic movements and traditions within ..read more

The suburb of Kingston, in the City of Logan to the south of Brisbane, was named after one of the first European land owners, Charles and Harriet Kingston. Kingston and his family arrived in Australia from England in 1857 and eventually the couple took up a selection of Crown land in 1872. Early industry was timber, supplying the local sawmill, and once enough land was cleared, expanding to farming of cotton and sugar, then branching out to dairy and fruit groves with the Kingston’s specialising in grapes and wine. The Kingston’s successfully developed their property and then enjoyed even grea ..read more

Truth-telling has become an integral act of educating the wider community about colonialism and systemic racism. Truth-telling allows for the reshaping of past narratives and acts as a stepping stone to a future that elevates diverse voices and a process of healing. Jasmine Togo-Brisby is a fourth-generation Australian South Sea Islander woman, artist and truth-teller. Togo-Brisby’s great-great-grandparents were taken from Vanuatu as part of Australia’s slave trade, known as ‘blackbirding’, which began in the mid 1800s. At the age of eight, her great-great-grandmother was forcibly removed from ..read more