IGNITE: On Resistance, Identity & Place

Jennifer Herd [photograph by Josh Herd]

OPENING EVENT – Friday 30 May 5:30pm

Despard Gallery is proud to present a special exhibition bringing together five leading First Nations artists from Queensland.Presented in association with Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, the exhibition features celebrated practitioners Rosella Namok, Samantha Hobson, Fiona Omeenyo and Joanne Currie Nalingu, as well as introduce the unique works of Jennifer Herd, featuring the use of camouflage, targets and her distinctive pin-hole technique.

Overall this exhibition celebrates the how symbols have been adopted within contemporary indigenous practice as instrument of both protest and empowerment. Through painting, sculpture and works on paper, each artist has devised their own distinctive visual language that contextualises traditional experience and knowledge with contemporary social issues.  This includes how creative practice remains an integral part of the ongoing national conversation towards Indigenous reconciliation, acting as a voice of resilience and offering agency whilst navigating the journey towards healing, equality and truth telling, both as individuals and as a community.

This work in this exhibition provides five unique perspectives on the role of art to ignite conversation by providing a contemporary assessment on what it means to be first nations in Australia today.  This includes exploring the importance of cultural understanding through the sharing of knowledge, how life is balanced between community and city, as well as the repeated use of patterning and line to represent a fusion of traditional stories with contemporary social and environmental concerns.