Visual Art

The AGNSW’s online show Hyper-linked has its rewards but also reveals the perils of rushing art online in a global emergency.

For Amala Groom, making art is a collaboration between herself and her Wiradyuri ancestors. Drawing on her history and culture, as well as her legal training, she seeks to subvert the colonial project. “Colonialism affects all of us … To be change agents we have to be inclusive, and Aboriginal culture is inclusive.”

Focusing on the perspectives of First Nations artists from Australia and around the world, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN, invites audiences to fight for greater justice and equality. It’s a triumph.

Using glass as a medium, Yhonnie Scarce makes art that testifies to the trauma enacted on Aboriginal people and communities. She speaks about travelling to memorial sites around the world and the importance of truth-telling. “I don’t like being lied to … They were setting off bombs, and they knew there were blackfullas around in that area, but they didn’t care.”

Open only by appointment due to Covid-19 restrictions, two exhibitions at Melbourne gallery Neon Parc provide a chance to reflect on the unseen labour of artists and arts workers.

With the Covid-19 lockdown forcing Sydney arts precinct Carriageworks into voluntary administration, the embattled cultural sector is bracing for worse to come.

The shutdowns in the wake of the escalating Covid-19 crisis have forced art establishments to move fast in creating new and innovative ways to keep galleries relevant when their doors are closed to the public.

Aiming to confront audiences with the hidden monstrosities of our age, the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art provokes crucial questions.

The Outcome Is Certain, the first exhibition to survey Agatha Gothe-Snape’s career, emphasises the performance strategies and collaborations that underpin this artist’s work.

The power of Vernon Ah Kee’s latest show, The Island, lies in its ability to spotlight the experiences of First Nations people and refugees as the antithesis of privileged white Australian culture.