SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: Contemporary First Nations Art from the Murdoch University Art Collection is a new exhibition currently showing at Murdoch University Art Gallery.

The exhibition’s title reflects its dynamic nature, showcasing powerful voices and truth telling by some of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists including Tony Albert, Selma Coulthard, Dr Brenda L. Croft, Dr Fiona Foley, Dr Julie Gough, Sandra Hill, Vanessa Inkamala, Kait James, Dianne Jones, Dylan Mooney, Thea Anamara Perkins, Dr Ryan Presley, Brian Robinson, Mervyn Rubuntja, Dr Christian Thompson AO, James Tylor and Keemon Williams.

These emerging, mid-career and senior artists have a deep engagement with their cultural heritage while addressing contemporary themes such as colonisation, environmental issues, displacement and identity. Their art is explicitly connected to history, identity, and storytelling, making it profoundly meaningful to both creators and audiences.

Since its foundation 50 years ago, First Nations art has been a key component of Murdoch University’s Art Collection, dovetailing perfectly with the founding values of Western Australia’s second university. Since its inception, Murdoch University has been associated with social justice and inclusion.  It has always been welcoming of First Nations people and one of the University’s key strategic goals is to become the University of Choice for First Nations peoples.

Art Collection Curators Mark Stewart and Baige Zylstra delved into almost 20 years of artwork acquisitions to bring together the 52 powerful artworks presented in SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER.

“This important feature of our Art Collection reflects the survival, resistance, resilience, and enduring strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultures. Speaking to a range of current and urgent issues, this is arguably some of the most significant contemporary Australian art of our time. First Nations artists are increasingly celebrated and represented in major global exhibitions, such as Archie Moore’s triumphant win at the 2024 Venice Biennale. It’s an honour to contextualise artworks from this facet of the Art Collection in the campus gallery for the first time and we’re delighted to share it with staff, students and the broader community,” said Mark.

The earliest artwork featured is a photo media triptych created in 2005 by senior artist and academic Dr Brenda L. Croft. This artwork offers a window into the stark reality of the artist’s lived experience as a child of an Indigenous father growing up in the suburbs of Perth in the 1960s. The art of younger, emerging artists features heavily in this exhibition reflecting the Collection’s ongoing commitment to support new talent.

One of the many benefits of having a University Art Collection is the ability for artworks to be woven into teaching and learning, and Mark and Baige see unlimited opportunities with this exhibition.

“The Art Collection helps students gain an understanding of how they can read and interpret visual material, and appreciate how art enriches our understanding of past and current issues. With this particular exhibition, the artists are bringing into the public conversation issues that have profoundly affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - from colonisation to stolen generations, displacement, identity, prejudice and inequality. Art, perhaps like no other medium here, can bring the subjects out into the open for reflection, historical analysis and public discussion,” said Baige.

Photo 2: left to right artworks by Kait James, Dylan Mooney, Keemon Williams, and Dr Christian Thompson AO

Photo 3: left to right artworks by Tony Albert, Dr Brenda L. Croft, and James Tylor

Photography by Eva Fernandez