When Wiradjuri man Brook Andrew become the 22nd Biennale of Sydney’s first Indigenous Australian artistic director this year, it was a cause for celebration. Presenting the globally esteemed art showcase under the uniting theme of “Nirin”, the Wiradjuri word for edge, he put First Nations creatives front and centre.
Although Sydney Biennale had to close early, it switched to digital. Aabaakwad – a four-day gathering of Indigenous artists, curators and thinkers – was able to go ahead in person as planned. Now you can catch up on this fascinating Indigenous-led conversation on First Nations art by those who create, curate and write about it, thanks to Sydney Opera House’s From Our House to Yours digital platform.
Aabaakwad founder Wanda Nanibush, an Anishinaabe curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, sits down with Brook Andrew, and artist and scholar himself, in this co-presentation by the Biennale, AGO and the Canada Council for the Arts, in partnership with the Sydney Opera House and Museum of Contemporary Art.
It goes live on FOHTY on Thursday, May 28 at 8pm and will stay online indefinitely.
Want more NIRIN? Read about its digital iteration here.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
