Following successful solo exhibitions around Australia and in Paris and London, the highly acclaimed Torres Strait Islander artists, Dennis Nona and Alick Tipoti, will be seen together for the first time in Australia at the National Aboriginal Cultural Centre – Tandanya from 8 January 2010.

 

A rich and ancient culture almost decimated by the missionaries of the late 1800s has been revived thanks to a group of Torres Strait Islander elders who maintained the stories, memories and ceremonies and other cultural information which they in turn passed on to artists such as Nona and Tipoti to express in their art.

 

It is this ownership, intimate understanding and empathy that these two artists have with their language and culture and the unique way in which they visualise it using contemporary imagery, materials and production techniques that sets their work apart.  

 

The Australian National Gallery has acquired work by the two artists in depth as have most of the country’s State and Regional Galleries.

 

In annual surveys by one of Australia’s leading art journals, Nona and Tipoti are regularly nominated as two of Australia’s fifty most collectable artists. The fact that both have had work acquired by the British Museum and other important international institutions is a testament to the success they now enjoy outside their own country.

 

This expansive exhibition of seventy works includes limited edition etchings, linocuts and three dimensional works.

 

The exhibition launch will be held 19 January, at 6pm.

 

For further information contact –

Liz Nowell, Visual Arts Manager, Tandanya, visualarts@tandanya.com.au

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