art+soul 2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection

art+soul 2 uses as its springboard the country’s premier Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection, at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) which represents hundreds of Indigenous artists, and spans more than a century of artworks. This fascinating series highlights key works within the collection, introducing audiences to the artists and communities behind the artworks.

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

Based around three key themes – Pride and Prejudice, Beauty and Cruelty, Love and Longing – the second series of art+soul explores how artists make sense of their history and considers how art is both political and a source of healing. For many artists, acknowledging the difficult stories that stem from colonisation, lies at the heart of their life and work. The series examines the role and responsibilities artists have in setting the record straight; and the relationship between the maintenance of tradition and innovation. Through this, Perkins weaves her own family story as the daughter of leading activist Charles Perkins.

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

Episode one: Pride and Prejudice. Pride in culture overcomes prejudice. DANIEL BOYD paints Captain Cook as pirate, not an explorer; his large dot paintings ask the difficult questions about past actions of the church. Yolngu leader WANYUBI MARIKA’s art proudly tells ancient stories of law and land. The past is embedded in the light installations of JONATHAN JONES, proclaiming that Australia’s rich Aboriginal past can’t be extinguished, even within a metropolis as dominant as Sydney. ESME TIMBERY adapts the shell work traditions started by her great grandmother, demonstrating cultural resilience – and innovation – over generations.

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

Episode two: Beauty and Cruelty. Beauty prevails over cruelty.
Samson & Delilah writer/director WARWICK THORNTON, from Alice Springs, provokes new ways of thinking and understanding with his conceptual art. Also from Alice Springs, the YARRENYTY ARLTERE ARTISTS show us how they transform everyday events of their lives into art. Tasmanian artist JULIE GOUGH is intent on finding out truths about the past and conveying them, by repurposing colonial objects and natural materials. The 2004 Palm Island riots – and those at Cronulla in Sydney- inspired Brisbane artist VERNON AH KEE, as have family photographs taken during a genealogy expedition in the 1930s to Palm Island.

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

Episode three: Love and Longing. Love and longing are at the heart of identity.
Remote art centres such as TJALA ARTS maintain culture and community. His Torres Strait Islander heritage is very present in the hugely diverse work of BRIAN ROBINSON, as are his other more global interests. LOLA GREENO is innovating within a long Tasmanian tradition of shell work, while her husband REX GREENO has resuscitated the art of making elegant bark canoes. Peripatetic CHRISTIAN THOMPSON’s own body is the basis of his eclectic art, but he feels the pull of his Queensland homeland strongly. The human form also dominates the work of NICOLE FORESHEW, who infuses her work with elements of the land – bark, ochre and leaves.

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8

art + soul 2 premieres on the ABC on Tuesday July 8, 8.30pm, as part of NAIDOC week. Subsequent episodes screen Tuesday 15 July and Tuesday 22 July.

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