Arts Monday 24 September 2012
Leanne Tobin. Clothes don’t always maketh the man. Installation. Courtesy the artist.
ArtiFacts Eastside.
Join me, Jane Raffan, for a program that takes an in-depth look at the exhibition Bungaree: The First Australian, on show at Mosman Regional Gallery and then touring nationally through 2015.
I’ll be chatting with gallery director John Cheeseman and renowned Aboriginal curator Djon Mundine OAM, who spent two years developing the exhibition.
The exhibition features 66 works of art by 15 Aboriginal artists: France Belle-Parker, Mervyn Bishop, Daniel Boyd, Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Adam Hill, Warwick Keen, Gary Lee, Peter McKenzie, Danie Mellor, Caroline Oakley, Rea, Gordon Syron, Leanne Tobin and Jason Wing.
The artists were commissioned to produce personal responses to the story of Bungaree, a few key elements of which include:
– his being the first person described as being an Australian
– his being the first Aboriginal person to circumnavigate Australia, in conjunction with Matthew Flinders
– his centrality to life in colonial Sydney Town, including his leadership of the Aboriginal community
More on the exhibition and the gallery here: https://mosmanartgallery.org.au/exhibitions/bungaree-the-first-australian
And the music? We’ll be listening to songs from some of our famed and less well known Indigenous musicians, as well as music that features in the exhibition, including Archie Roach’s All Men Choose the Path they Walk from the film, The Tracker, and a piece composed especially for the exhibition by artist Peter McKenzie, A Ballad of Bungaree.
Join me for an important history lesson that most of us would have missed out on, and insight to the personage of Bungaree.
As always, I look forward to your company, 10:30 to noon.
Jane