Art Gallery of New South Wales launches 150th anniversary celebrations
The Opera House sails are lit with art works by six female Aboriginal artists as part of Badu Gilli: Wonder Women in Sydney on April 22, 2021. Saeed KHAN / AFP.
SYDNEY
.-The Art Gallery of New South Wales kicked off its 150th anniversary celebrations with a burst of color and light, collaborating for the first time with the Sydney Opera House to mark the annual Badu Gili festival of First Nations Culture by projecting artworks onto the iconic sails of the Opera House.
The work of six leading Aboriginal women artists represented in the Art Gallerys permanent collection will light up each evening in a six-minute animation on the sails, as the Gallery leads up to the completion in 2022 of its Sydney Modern expansion project, designed by SANAA.
âIt is important to have these living stories showcasing our Aunties,â Edgar says. âThey are leaders within their own communities and all have fascinating histories and stories to share.
âAll Indigenous people have stories that are hard to swallow, but as an Indigenous curator, who also faces these challenges, I can confidently say that Indigenous people have this amazing ability to look beyond the trauma that is usually focused on in the broader community.
âThose amplified stories of trauma we see in the broader community is not how I know my friends and family. Indigenous people are fun, funny, and great to be around. I wanted to focus on the golden moments in between the trauma.â
Works by a group of Indigenous artists will be projected onto the sails of the Sydney Opera House for a night-time light show that explores ancient stories.
One of Australia s most iconic landmarks is playing canvas to the works and stories of six Indigenous female artists hand-picked from across the country.
The sails of the Sydney Opera House were on Thursday illuminated for the first day of the ongoing projection exhibition Badu Gili: Wonder Women.
Aboriginal artists Judith Inkamala (left), Marlene Gilson (middle) and Marlene Rubuntja (2nd right) stand in front of their art work with curator Coby Edgar (far right)