Bryant_Harriette_2025. Photo © Photographer Meg Hansen _ the artist and Mimili Maku Arts
Harriette Bryant
PROJECT
Harriette Bryant’s mixed-media paintings offer an alternative lens through which to view the history of British nuclear testing at Maralinga and Emu Field in South Australia from 1952 to 1963. Each work features collaged and painted historical imagery of the nuclear tests conducted on Bryant’s Ancestral homelands, transferred and overpainted onto vintage silver serving plates. Once symbols of European settlement and propriety, these objects are transformed by Bryant into powerful vehicles for truth-telling. Ultimately, these works honour family histories, lived experiences and personal memories while drawing focus to cultural survival, strength and reclamation across past, present and future generations.
ABOUT
Harriette Bryant is a multidisciplinary artist who was born in Amata, APY Lands, and currently lives and works in Mimili Community, APY Lands. Throughout her childhood, Bryant journeyed from Cundalee Mission (Kalgoorlie), through Yalata, Pipalyatjara and Ooldea. Her travels through various communities led to early creative experimentation as well as shaping Bryant’s cultural connections to and understanding of each place. They have also informed her contemporary art practice, which is grounded in personal history, story and memory, and the power and strength of Aṉangu storytelling.
Now well-known for her creative works that reclaim colonial objects, Bryant works across sculpture, installation, object-based assemblage and mixed media to critically reframe Australian history through an Aṉangu lens. Her now-signature aesthetic can be understood as autobiographical reflections that engage humour, archival materials and historical references to generously share intimate insights into personal perspective, lived experiences and family stories. Bryant’s work is represented in major national and international public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australian War Memorial, and Fondation Opale.