Huge launch for biggest ever Indigenous Art Awards

Published on 26 February 2020

Locals and visitors are invited to attend the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery on Friday night to celebrate the biggest ever Maari Ma Indigenous Art Awards (MMIAA) and a trio of other exhibitions.

The event marks the 10th Anniversary of the esteemed Indigenous awards and this year features an increased prize pool of $10,000 thanks to Maari Ma Aboriginal Health Corporation.

The aim of the awards is to provide an opportunity to showcase and celebrate art works and creativity in the Far West by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

The official opening and award announcements will commence at 6pm live from the outdoor stage.

There will also be a free outdoor car park event in conjunction with the prize featuring entertainment from Nancy Bates and Friends, a jumping castle, face painting, a free BBQ, and Broken Hill's first Indigenous Art Markets.

MMIAA is presented courtesy of Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Health Corporation, and West Darling Arts.

The event will be complemented by the opening of three other exhibitions, including:

Adrift - Jesse Boyd-Reid

Adrift is a photographic body of work created during a recent residency program onboard a traditional Barquentine sailing vessel in the high Arctic. 

Adrift highlights the ways in which we are inseparable from the spaces we inhabit, forever entwined in their histories and stories.

This collection of portraits, landscapes and still lives provides a contemplative monograph of life in one of the most remote communities of the world. 

The transformative act of swimming in this glacial landscape, for example, requires not only logistics and pluck, but also a watchful armed guide providing protection from polar bears.

These works reflect upon the resilience and adaptability required to survive in this remote and unforgiving landscape as environmental changes escalate.

Dirty Diesel & Dusty Deeds - Paul White

Dirty Diesel & Dusty Deeds conflates the relationship between human and land through snapshot style drawings of the Australian outback. 

While at first glance they may seem reminiscent of holiday snaps, these drawings depict the effect of human intervention on the landscape.

From the seemingly insignificant to the devastating and daunting, the works bring the viewer face to face with the ways in which their hand has cracked and moulded this red earth.

The Ikona - George Raftopoulos

The IKONA is a series of paintings that investigate the human condition and its intersection with the notion of the ‘ordinary’ being elevated to the status of icon.

The IKONA references, the Greek word ‘ikon’ meaning image. Traditionally, icons were considered an essential part of the Eastern Christian tradition and were given special reverence and admiration. They served as guides for those seeking faith and would often depict popular saints and religious scenes. The icon has continued to be a present visual aspect of the Christian Orthodox tradition.

George Raftopoulos’ work is a comment on the human condition. He addresses notions of hope, determination and self-realisation.

His work is realised in a ‘personal mythology’ inspired by such artists of the past such as Goya, Rembrandt and Titian.

In this body of work he utilises silhouettes by the artists of the 16-17th Century and embarks on the ‘modernisation into the 21st Century’ by impressing his abstract marks upon these silhouettes.

Locals will also be able to join George live in the gallery from 10am-4pm on Saturday as he paints a large-scale work onto the wall within his exhibition.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet George and chat with him about his work.