NGV Senior Curator Myles Russell-Cook introduces Members and guests to the new ground floor display at NGV Australia, Wurrdha Marra which showcases the work of emerging and senior First Nations artists and designers from the NGV Collection.
Wurrdha Marra means ‘Many Mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language. The name comes to the NGV from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and supports the purpose of this space in sharing the work of First Nations artists. For First Nations peoples around the world, art and design are part of a continuum where the past intersects with the present, different materials converge, and diverse perspectives come together. The central role of art in passing down important cultural knowledge is celebrated in this display through the diverse approaches that artists take to maintain and regenerate customary cultural practices and iconography while also creating new forms of expression.
Speaker
Myles Russell-Cook, Senior Curator, Australian and First Nations Art, NGV