Australian Art on the Map Your guide to discovering Australian art and artists in Sydney. By Kirsty Sier.
WHEN IT COMES TO CULTURE, Australia can be a pretty bizarre place. We have historically spent a lot of time looking outwards instead of appreciating what’s in our own backyard. But in recent years something seems to have shifted, with Australian galleries both major and minor not only investing heavily in Australian artists, but also taking them overseas, where they have established themselves as “household names”. In recent years, many of our major galleries have staged seasonal blockbuster exhibitions that have revolved around emerging and established Australian talent—a phenomenon that seems to be increasing in frequency. Thankfully, this seems to be true for both non-Indigenous Australian artists and for Indigenous Australian artists, whose work is becoming more visible, and whose gallery representatives are becoming more accountable. From conceptual Australian artists with trails of international exhibitions such as Patricia Piccinini, to contemporary artists breathing fresh air into traditional forms, such as Indigenous artist Betty Kuntiwa Pumani,
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W WHE HE RE I J U LY 2019
