Image: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Wurrdha Marra is presented as an ever-evolving exhibition of Australian First Nations artists and designers, with always more to see as visitors come to see what is new. It is open daily and free to visit. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, at Fed Square, lists ongoing, free entry.
The title Wurrdha Marra means ‘Many Mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language. Its name comes to the NGV from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. The space shares the work of First Nations artists from emerging to senior figures, extending across different periods and places.
The display celebrates the central role of art in passing down important cultural knowledge through the diverse approaches artists take to maintaining and regenerating customary cultural practices and iconography. Pukara, dated 2004, is made with synthetic polymer paint on canvas.
Bark Salon presents over 150 works and is the largest-ever staging of the NGV’s dynamic and expansive holdings of bark paintings. It showcases the breadth of bark painting as a genre, tracing genealogical shifts in form, aesthetic, narrative and politics.
