Visual Arts at the Darwin Festival

Across the Festival opening weekend, the much-loved Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair celebrates its 13th year with art from more than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community art centres, and an exciting program of traditional dance, workshops, film, music and the Fair’s fashion show From Country to Couture. This year, Melbourne fashion label Gorman has collaborated with Mangkaja Arts Collection to showcase 40 looks featuring the artwork of artists from Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia.

For over 17 years Behind the Wire has provided Northern Territory prisoners with an opportunity to exhibit their works of art to the public. Be awed by the amazing depth and creativity of their works from Saturday 10 – Sunday 25 August at Fannie Bay Gaol.  

Australia’s most prestigious national Indigenous art awards is back for the 36th year. The Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra NATSIAA) celebrate the extraordinary artists from diverse geographic regions across the country, and bring an important Indigenous voice to the political, social and cultural dialogue in Australia. Engage in the wonderful works of up and coming artists and enjoy the major works of Australia’s most revered artists.  This year’s awards ceremony and opening night on Friday 9 August will be filled with incredible live performances, music and dance. 

Salon Art Projects presents six curated exhibitions across Darwin galleries. RIKINA! is an exhibition from the small community of Kaltjiti in the remote APY Lands. The local Art Centre is a place of learning where elders teach younger generations about cultural traditions and stories through their artworks. This exhibition is a survey of works that are both compelling and powerful. RIKINA! is on at Paul Johnstone Gallery, Friday 2 - Saturday 24 August.

Multi-award-winning artist Naminapu Maymuru-White paints the River of Stars, known in English as the Milky Way and understood by the Mangalili people as the astral version of the Milŋiyawuy River. In this river the Guwak ancestral beings drowned and became the stars in the night sky. To see this exhibition head to Project Space, Saturday 17 August - Saturday 7 September

Step into Mayfair Gallery and step back in time. Old Darwin is a large group exhibition celebrating an era of Darwin art, design and classic interior aesthetics of the Top End in the late 1970s and early 1980s. See it at Mayfair Gallery, Friday 16 - Saturday 24 August.

More information: www.darwinfestival.org.au