Paper exhibition unfolds for all to see
A major exhibition of First Nations works on paper featuring prints, drawings and paintings on paper has opened at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery in Victoria.
Curated with Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and KarraJarri artist and curator Jenna (Mayilema) Lee, Unfolding features more than 100 works by over 80 artists, including Queenie McKenzie, Gloria Petyarre, Robert Fielding, Brian Robinson, Fiona Foley, and d harding — all drawn from MPRG’s nationally significant collection.
“Paper is alluring because it holds contradictions,” Lee said.
“It is the material of colonial paperwork, the bureaucratic pages that catalogued, restricted, and attempted to define us.
“Yet in the hands of First Nations artists, paper becomes something else entirely: a surface for resistance, renewal and possibility. Each work on paper unfolds to reveal a new facet, a reminder that this most everyday of materials can bear the weight of history while opening space for newer, truer tellings.”
The exhibition reflects MPRG’s 55-year focus on works on paper and its growing collection of over 400 works by contemporary First Nations artists.
Visitors to the exhibition are invited to contribute to a collaborative artwork designed by Taungurung artist Sammy Trist.
- The exhibition runs until February 15.
