Image: Cairns Indigenous Art Fair
The 2026 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) centred its programme on the theme ‘Reclamation & Regeneration’, bringing together exhibitions, awards, an On Country programme and fashion presentations around ideas of resurgence, Country, memory and the continuation of Indigenous knowledge. D Lan Galleries published a report by Vanessa Merlino after attending the fair as part of the Queensland Indigenous Art Delegation, a programme designed to support longer-term relationships between institutions and Indigenous art centres.
Merlino’s account begins at Cooya Beach, known as Kuyu Kuyu, north of Port Douglas, where Traditional Custodians from the Kuku Yalanji community led participants across mudflats, mangroves and beach. The visit formed part of CIAF’s On Country VIP Programme, hosted by Girramay, Yidinji and Kuku-Yalanji artist Tony Albert. Activities included learning about bush foods and medicines, as well as spear-throwing and hunting as living skills rather than demonstrations.
The delegation was run by Trade and Investment Queensland with Arts Queensland and CIAF. According to the report, its purpose was to help institutions build sustained relationships with art centres rather than simply purchase works. That emphasis echoed CIAF’s broader approach to cultural authority and representation. Merlino describes the fair’s theme, in terms attributed to Artistic Director Teho Ropeyarn, as a movement back towards Country, memory and knowledge disrupted by colonisation, with regeneration understood as knowledge carried forward as living and changing practice.
The Art Fair Showcase preview provided a forum for artists to discuss their work and processes directly with visitors. Albert also spoke about the responsibilities of curating as an artist during a long lunch connected with the programme. His recent curatorial work includes ‘After the Rain’, the fifth National Indigenous Art Triennial. In Merlino’s account, Albert described curatorial responsibility as something relearned through each project and through direct conversations with artists and communities.
The CIAF Art Awards provided another focus, with Keith Wikmunea of Wik and Kugu Arts Centre in Aurukun receiving the newly combined 3D Design, Sculpture & Innovation Award for his blue tree, ‘Yeel | Corella’. Wikmunea previously won the $100,000 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2023 and was also named a finalist in the 2026 Wynne Prize. The report identifies his work ‘Theewith yot.a!’, made in 2024 with natural earth pigments and synthetic binders on carved milkwood.
The report also links CIAF’s programme to ‘Brush: Women Painters’, an exhibition at Cairns Art Gallery running from 27 June to 4 October 2026. Curated by Shonae Hobson, the exhibition brings together a multigenerational group of artists from Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Naomi Hobson, Samantha Hobson, Janet Koongotema, Birrmuyingathi Maali Netta Loogatha, Thunduyingathi Bijarrb May Moodoonuthi, Rosella Namok and Mavis Ngallametta. The gallery describes the artists’ paintings as expressions of cultural and spiritual knowledge of landscape, seasonal patterns and sacred story places.
CIAF’s fashion programme concluded the week at The Mill in Stratford, presenting 25 designers, including three from Taiwan and New York-based designers Korina Emmerich and Liana Shewey of Relative Arts. The accompanying shows addressed climate resilience, connection to Country and personal healing, while treating garments as carriers of lineage and responsibility as well as aesthetic objects.
