Seeds and Sovereignty
![Christian Thompson, Bidjara people, Australia/United Kingdom b.1978 / Black Gum 2 (from 'Australian Graffiti' series) 2008 / Type C photograph on paper / 108 x 110cm / Purchased 2008. The QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Christian Thompson](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/m2obzhc2/production/c53bd607034468ca99ab43e0e4c8b189523db4e3-3403x3407.jpg?rect=0,869,3403,1670&w=320&h=157&q=90&fit=crop)
Christian Thompson, Bidjara people, Australia/United Kingdom b.1978 / Black Gum 2 (from 'Australian Graffiti' series) 2008 / Type C photograph on paper / 108 x 110cm / Purchased 2008. The QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Christian Thompson / View full image
When
2 Mar – 18 Aug 2024
Where
Gallery of Modern Art & Gallery 3.5
Admission
Free
About
Over countless generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people developed an intricate understanding of their Country’s unique environments and ideal ecological balance. Intertwined with cultural knowledge and ceremonial practice, this insight is embedded into societal systems, wherein totemic relationships of responsibility to flora and fauna ensure ongoing land management and sustainability.
Native plants provide nourishment, healing and the raw materials to create functional and ceremonial objects, shelter and tools for hunting. Their seasonal occurrence has tremendous ecological and theological importance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Lessons embedded into cultural stories, ceremony, art, dance and Songlines – refined over millennia of caring for Country – contain information critical to the safe use and sustainable collection of natural resources.
‘Seeds and Sovereignty’ brings together works from QAGOMA’s Indigenous Australian Art Collection that celebrate these interconnected relationships between plants, people and Country. The works chosen are thematically responsive to the scholarship of Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe, Zena Cumpston, Bill Gammage and many other researchers whose work successfully challenges accepted histories and pervasive beliefs around the lifestyles of pre-colonial Indigenous people. This ground-breaking research recognises the sophisticated land management practices referenced in these artworks, while reaffirming the sacred obligations of custodianship that underpin their success.
Carol McGregor, Wathaurung people, Australia b.1961 / Skin Country 2018 / Ochre, charcoal, wax thread and pyroincisionon Eastern grey possum skins / 266 x 282cm (irreg.) / Purchased 2020 with funds from Constantine Carides and Elene Carides in memory of their parents Kiryacos and Mary Carides through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Carol McGregor / View full image
Mavis Ngallametta, Kugu-Uwanh people, Putch clan, Australia 1944–2019 / Little swamp on the way to Obun 2018 / Natural pigments and charcoal with acrylic binder on linen primed in synthetic polymer paint / 271 x 200cm / Purchased 2018. QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Mavis Ngallametta / View full image
Christian Thompson, Bidjara people, Australia/United Kingdom b.1978 / Black Gum 2 (from 'Australian Graffiti' series) 2008 / Type C photograph on paper / 108 x 110cm / Purchased 2008. The QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Christian Thompson / View full image
![Hermannsburg potter Rona Rubuntja’s ‘Bush tucker’ series 2009 / Earthenware, hand-built terracotta clay with underglaze colours and applied decoration / Purchased 2010 with funds raised through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Appeal / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Rona Rubuntja/Copyright Agency](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/m2obzhc2/production/3ea5bd402829c557e20935e9c23aee76c879e311-6000x4500.jpg?rect=2966,1301,3034,1991&w=320&h=210&q=90&fit=crop)
Hermannsburg potter Rona Rubuntja’s ‘Bush tucker’ series 2009 / Earthenware, hand-built terracotta clay with underglaze colours and applied decoration / Purchased 2010 with funds raised through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Appeal / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Rona Rubuntja/Copyright Agency / View full image