This talk moderated by NGV Senior Curator of First Nations Art, Dr Jessica Clark, brings together FUTURE COUNTRY: Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions artist and mentor duo Boneta-Marie Mabo and Megan Cope to yarn about the role of artist collaborations and mentorship in First Nations communities. Working together to develop Boneta-Marie’s ambitious new installation work Colonial threads, the pair will share about their commission journey, their collaboration, and the inspiration, process and development of the work.
About the artists
Boneta-Marie Mabo is a Nywaigi, Meriam and Manbarra woman, visual artist, activist and costume designer. Her multidisciplinary practice explores resistance, memory, identity and the ongoing impacts of colonialism. She won the People’s Choice Award at the 2014 Telstra NATSIAA, designed a commemorative 50¢ coin for the Mabo and 1967 Referendum anniversaries, and was the inaugural artist-in-residence at the State Library of Queensland in 2016. Her work has been exhibited nationally and includes projects in language revival, First Nations women and girl’s empowerment, and cultural reclamation through visual art and community collaboration.
Megan Cope is a multidisciplinary artist and Quandamooka woman from the Moreton Bay region of Southeast Queensland. Her works are informed by her community and heritage. Cope creates sculptural installations, public art and has a socially engaged practice focusing on Indigenous stewardship, cultural continuum and custodial ethics as contemporary art practice. She is a member of Aboriginal art collective proppaNOW and recipients of the prestigious 2022–24 Jane Lombard Prize for Arts and Social Justice. In 2024, she received the Creative Australia Award for Emerging and Experimental Arts and in 2017–19, she was the official Australian War Artist, commissioned by the Australian War Memorial. She is represented by Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.
