Nici Cumpston | |
---|---|
Born | Nicole Jane Cumpston 1963 (age 60–61) Adelaide, South Australia |
Alma mater | University of South Australia |
Known for | Photography, visual arts, Indigenous art curation |
Nici Cumpston, OAM (born 1963) [1] is an Australian photographer, painter, curator, writer, and educator.
Cumpston's family background is Barkindji (an Aboriginal people of New South Wales), Afghan, Irish and English. Born in Adelaide, [1] she graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts. [2]
Cumpston shoots on black-and-white film, which is then scanned and printed digitally on canvas before being hand-coloured. An exhibition of her work, having-been-there, was held at the University of Virginia's Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in 2014, during which Cumpston spent two months as resident artist. [2]
Employed by the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) since 2008, [3] Cumpston became artistic director of Tarnanthi, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts festival held in Adelaide, in 2015. Tarnanthi exhibitions were held at AGSA, the South Australian Museum, the JamFactory and the South Australian School of Art. [4] [5]
Cumpston became Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at AGSA in 2016, and as of March 2020 [update] remains artistic director role of Tarnanthi. [3]
In 2024, Mitzevich served on the jury for the $60 million revitalization of the National Gallery of Australia's three-hectare sculpture garden, alongside Philip Goad, Nick Mitzevich, and Teresa Moller. [6]
In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Cumpston was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to the museums and galleries sector, and to Indigenous art". [7]
Dorothy Napangardi was a Warlpiri speaking contemporary Indigenous Australian artist born in the Tanami Desert and who worked in Alice Springs.
Daisy Loongkoonan was an Australian Aboriginal artist and elder from the Nyikina people of the central western Kimberley region in Western Australia. Loongkoonan was born at Mount Anderson near the Fitzroy River. Her parents worked on cattle stations, and as she grew up, Loongkoonan followed them, mustering sheep and cooking in stock camps. Later she rode horses and mustered cattle.
The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia houses one of the finest Indigenous Australian art collections in the world, rivaling many of the collections held in Australia. It is the only museum outside Australia dedicated solely to Indigenous Australian art. The museum houses many important breakthrough paintings of the Papunya Tula movement and Arnhem Land artists. The collection comprises more than 2000 objects in a variety of media, including bark and acrylic paintings, sculpture, photography, prints and artifacts. The director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is anthropologist Margo Smith.
Yanggarriny Wunungmurra (1932–2003) was an artist, yidaki player and leader of the Dhalwangu clan of the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Julie Gough is an artist, writer and curator based in Tasmania, Australia.
Tarnanthi is a Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art held in Adelaide, South Australia, annually. Presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) in association with the South Australian Government and BHP. It is curated by Nici Cumpston.
Marrnyula Mununggurr (1964) is an Aboriginal Australian painter of the Djapu clan of the Yolngu people, known for her use of natural ochres on bark and hollow logs, wood carvings, linoleum and screen print productions.
Barbara Mbitjana Moore is an Anmatyerre woman who grew up in Ti-Tree in the Northern Territory, moving later to Amata in South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. In April 2003, Moore began painting at Amata's Tjala Arts, and, since then, has received widespread recognition. Moore won a National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award in 2012 and has been a finalist in many other years. Moore has also been a finalist for the Wynne Prize.
Ngarra (c.1920–2008) was an Aboriginal Australian artist of the Andinyin and Gija peoples, known for his paintings on canvas and paper which depicted his homelands in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, along with events from the ancestral and colonial past. Among Aboriginal people in the central and east Kimberley he was revered for his deep knowledge of Aboriginal ceremonial practices which he learned from his grandparents Muelbyne and Larlgarlbyne while living nomadically in the remote Mornington Range.
Nonggirrnga Marawili was an Australian Yolngu painter and printmaker. She was the daughter of the acclaimed artist and pre-contact warrior Mundukul. Marawili was born on the beach at Darrpirra, near Djarrakpi, as a member of the Madarrpa clan of the Yirritja moiety. She grew up in both Yilpara and Yirrkala in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, but lived wakir', meaning her family would move frequently, camping at Madarrpa clan-related sites between Blue Mud Bay and Groote Eylandt. Marawili died at Yirrkala in October 2023.
Kay Lindjuwanga is an Aboriginal Australian artist from Maningrida in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is known for her bark paintings which often make use of Aboriginal rrark designs.
Dorothy Djukulul is a traditional Australian Aboriginal artist who lives in Ramingining in Central Arnhem Land. She speaks Ganalbingu and is a part of the Gurrumba Gurrumba clan, who identify as being a part of the Yirrija moiety.
Dhuwarrwarr Marika, also known as Banuminy, a female contemporary Aboriginal artist. She is a Yolngu artist and community leader from East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. She belongs to the Dhuwa moiety of the Rirratjingu clan in the homeland of Yalangbara, daughter of Mawalan Marika. Marika is an active bark painter, carver, mat maker, and printmaker.
Dick Binyinyuwuy Djarrankuykuy (c. 1928–1982) was a leading Aboriginal artist from the island of Milingimbi off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. He belonged to the Djarrankuykuy clan of the Djambarrpuyngu people. During World War II he was among the group of Aboriginal men enlisted by Squadron Leader Donald Thomson for the Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit to protect Australia's northern shoreline from Japanese invasion. He became an artist after the war, in the 1950s.
Narputta Nangala Jugadai (1933–2010) was an Aboriginal Australian artist born at Karrkurutinytja, who later lived at Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji) in the Northern Territory. Her language group was Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara, and her Dreaming was "Snake", "Jangala, Two Men" and "Two Women". She was a senior artist in her community at Ikuntji and prominent among the Ikuntji Women's Centre painters. She was the wife of the painter, Timmy Tjungurrayi Jugadai, and mother of Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri and Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri.
Wukun Wanambi was an Australian Yolngu painter, filmmaker and curator of the Marrakulu clan of northeastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
Angelina Pwerle is an Australian Aboriginal artist. Her work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Australia and other major institutions.
A memorial pole, also known as hollow log coffin, burial pole, lorrkkon, ḻarrakitj, or ḏupun, is a hollow tree trunk decorated with elaborate designs, made by the Yolngu and Bininj peoples of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Originally used to hold the bones of deceased people or for burial ceremonies, they are now made as works of art. The permanent exhibit at the National Gallery of Australia, Aboriginal Memorial, consists of 200 hollow log coffins, created by 43 artists.
Evonne Munuyngu, of the skin name Bilinydjanm, is an Indigenous Australian contemporary artist, weaver, and sculptor. She works at the Bula'Bula Arts Center in Ramingining, Eastern Arnhem Land. She works alongside her sister, Mary Dhalapany in their weaving and artistic practices.
Nick Mitzevich is the director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra, a position he has occupied since July 2018. From 2010 until his appointment to the NGA in April 2018, he was director of the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide.