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Home: Aboriginal art from New South Wales

Roy Kennedy, 'Mission boy dreams', 2006

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

 
Michael Riley, 'Untitled (feather)', 2000. Art Gallery of New South Wales © Estate of Michael Riley, courtesy Michael Riley Foundation. Licensed by Viscopy, Australia
How to use this resource

This digital learning resource creates access to selected content published in the major education resource Home: Aboriginal art from New South Wales (2013). It has been developed to help students and educators understand and appreciate the richness and diversity of Aboriginal art in New South Wales.

Themes
Four themes have been developed to highlight subject, experiential or material, and process-based connections between the artists. Ideas for looking, responding and making art are available in each theme.

Artists’ biographical details appear in the following order: birth (and death) dates, language group, the region the language group is in, domicile, the region of domicile.

 
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Roy Kennedy, by Brenda L. Croft. Source supplied

View the artists featured on this learning resource

Margaret Adams born 1942 Kamilaroi, Moree, Northern Riverine region Brook Andrew born 1970 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Melbourne, South-east region Roy Barker Senior 1928–2012 Muruwari, Lightning Ridge, Northern Riverine region Badger Bates born 1947 Baakantji, Wilcannia/Broken Hill, Southern Riverine region Frances Belle Parker born 1982 Yaegl, Maclean, South-east region Mervyn Bishop born 1945, Kamilaroi, Dubbo, Southern Riverine region Robert Campbell Jnr 1944−93 Ngaku, Kempsey, South-east region Lorraine Connelly-Northey born 1962 Wiradjuri, Culcairn, Southern Riverine region Cheryl Davison born 1965 Walbanga/Ngarigo, Narooma, South-east region Karla Dickens born 1967 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Lismore, South-east region Euraba Artists and Papermakers Elenore Binge, born 1975 Leonie Binge, born 1966 Margaret Dennison, born 1961 Adrienne Duncan, born 1955 Joy Duncan, born 1941 Margaret Duncan, born 1960 Marlena Hinch, born 1982 Marlene Hinch, born 1948 May Hinch, born 1946 Jenny McIntosh, born 1948 Stella O’Halloran, born 1944 Isobel Karkoe, 1941–2003 Gloria Woodbridge, born 1948 Kamilaroi, Boggabilla, Northern Riverine region Julie Freeman born 1957 Gorawral/Jerrawongarla, Wreck Bay, South-east region Kevin Gilbert 1933−1993 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region Genevieve Grieves born 1976 Worimi, Melbourne, South-east region Jonathan Jones born 1978 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region Roy Kennedy born 1934 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region Peter Yanada McKenzie born 1944 Eora/Anaiwan, Sydney, South-east region Tommy McRae c1836−1901 Kwat Kwat, Lake Moodemere/Wahgunyah, Southern Riverine region r e a born 1962 Kamilaroi/Wailwan, Northern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region Reko Rennie born 1974 Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region, Melbourne, South-east region Michael Riley 1960–2004 Wiradjuri, Southern Riverine region/Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region Elaine Russell 1941–2017 Kamilaroi, Northern Riverine region, Sydney, South-east region Lola Ryan 1925–2003 Tharawal/Eora, Sydney, South-east region Jim Stanley 1927–2015 Kamilaroi, Moree, Northern Riverine region Phyllis Stewart born 1954 Tharawal, Gerringong, South-east region Esme Timbery born 1931 Eora/Bidigal, La Perouse, South-east region Laddie Timbery born 1941 Eora/Bidjigal, Huskisson, South-east region Mickey of Ulladulla c1820s–1891 Yuin, Ulladulla, Southern Riverine region HJ Wedge 1957–2012 Wiradjuri, Erambie, Southern Riverine region

 
Elaine Russell, 'Lachlan River, our childhood dreams', 1994. Art Gallery of New South Wales © Elaine Russell
Introduction

“Home” can mean a number of things: a place of residence, a connection to country, or a sense of belonging. Home may be the country of our ancestors, our family and our youth; it can be an enduring sense of place.

Home: Aboriginal art from New South Wales celebrates the idea of home through the work of Aboriginal artists who belong to nations and language groups that today fall within the area defined as NSW. It highlights artworks in the Gallery’s collection as well as key works in selected regional collections, including Bidjigal Aboriginal Arts and Crafts, Huskisson; Goondee Aboriginal Keeping Place, Lightning Ridge; Grafton Regional Gallery; Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales; Moree Plains Gallery; and Wollongong City Gallery.

Home demonstrates how Aboriginal art develops from a complex and dynamic social and cultural network; how it is at once deeply embedded in the heritage of particular language groups and strongly informed by contemporary events and ideas. It offers a new way of looking at Aboriginal art of Australia’s south-east, establishing it as both a historical and contemporary movement that has shaped and informed Australian culture.

 
Map

This map indicates the key Regions of Aboriginal Australia that fall within the area now defined as New South Wales. These regions are based on the Horton map published by AIATSIS in 1996. Locations connected to artists featured in this resource are also indicated.