This year’s exhibition Insights has been curated by the Library Special Collections team, and with the endorsement of exhibition patron Gail Mabo, to shine a light on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks in the James Cook University (JCU) Art Collection. It showcases a selection of these exciting works and provides some insights into their meanings, significance and the artists who created them.
Right now, there are 26 diverse artworks by 23 artists available for viewing. They can be found on the ground and first floor levels of the Mabo Library. Be sure to check the Library opening hours to plan your visit.
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Arone Raymond Meeks, Evidence, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 183.5 x 121 cm. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by
Letizia C De Rosa and Ernst Briet in memory of the De Rosa family. © Estate of Arone Meeks, 2020. Photograph by Louis Lim. |
Artwork styles and mediums on display include graphic, representational and abstract landscape, animal, plant and human forms in paintings, prints, photography and sculpture. Connections and reconnections with culture are explored through their imagery, and culture is both shared and retained through the stories the artworks contain and depict.
Artists featured include:
* James Billy
* Michael Cook
* Karen Doolan
* James Doyle
* Larrtjanga Ganambarr
* Goobalathaldin (Dick Roughsey)
* Gail Mabo
* Narritjin Maymuru
* Arone Meeks
* Rosella Namok
* Susan Peters Nampitjin
* Tommy Pau
* Jeannie Mills Pwerle
* Brian Robinson
* Teho Ropeyarn
* Joel Sam
* Bai Tapau
* Thanakupi (Gloria Fletcher Thancoupie)
* Alick Tipoti
* Clare Jaque Vasquez
* Judy Watson
* Aicey Zaro
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Tommy Pau, Mask Dancers, 2011. Lino Print on paper, Edition 1/10, 60.5 x 90 cm [Image] / 80 x 120 cm [Sheet]. Reproduced with permission © Tommy Pau, 2024. Photograph by Through the Looking Glass Studio. |
Through Insights, JCU Library is working to develop understanding and appreciation of the Arts and Cultures of Australia’s Indigenous artists and their creative output and contribution to our nation’s culture. We recognise and acknowledge the artists’ Indigenous custodianship of Country, and aim to draw attention to their cultural and artistic knowledge and practices, as well as to the interdisciplinarity of the works and themes explored.
Indigenous cultures are “living and evolving entities, not historical phenomena”i and this is demonstrated in the way that Indigenous art spans from “ceremonial, land-based orientation to encompassing the external interest and demand embodied in the art market”. ii
The exhibition includes connected displays on level 1 of the Mabo Library of publications and materials drawn from the Library Special Collections. The physical exhibition will be supported by a growing digital presence for the artworks featured in the JCU Art Collection, through NQHeritage@JCU – the online repository for the Library Special Collections.
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Clare Jaque Vasquez, Flight Path, 2023, Acrylic, oil and impasto on canvas, 195 x 195 cm. |
The JCU Collection is recognised as a University Collection managed by the JCU Library Services. It comprises over 1000 individual works located on University sites including JCU Townsville, Bebegu Yumba campus, JCU Cairns, Nguma-bada campus, JCU Mount Isa, Murtupuni campus, JCU Thursday Island, Ngulaigau Mudh campus and JCU Mackay, Ngudya Yamba campus.
Explore the Collection further through its growing digital presence being established here in NQHeritage@JCU.
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Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey, Untitled bark painting. n.d. Pigment on bark, 62 x 37 cm. © Dick Roughsey/Copyright Agency, 2019. Photograph by Michael Marzik. |
Enquiries about the JCU Art Collection or the Library Special Collections can be submitted via the Special Collections online form or by emailing specialcollections@jcu.edu.au
i Valuing Art, Respecting Culture: Protocols for Working with the Australian Indigenous Visual Arts and Craft Sector, Doreen Mellor and Terri Janke, National Association for the Visual Arts, 2001.
ii ibid
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