VINCENT NAMATJIRA

In the exhibition, Namatjira will show a new body of work continuing his King Dingo series, in which the artist reinterprets conventions of imperial power from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective.

The Dingo, an Australian wild dog, takes on the character of a monarch in this body of work. Its poses, costuming and settings draw from the iconography of the British monarchy, using the immediately recognisable visual lexicon to explore ideas of royalty and status at large. Approached with wit and subtlety, the works reverse established hierarchies of ownership, placing Australian Indigenous land and dingo in the seat of power. The artist says, “King Dingo represents Aboriginal strength, pride and resilience, and respect for Country, culture, and Indigenous leadership past and present.” The exhibition provides an opportunity to review Australia’s important and complex relationship to the Commonwealth in particular, and the lasting skews of — and resistance to — colonial power globally.

Vincent Namatjira OAM (b. 1983), is a leading Western Aranda artist and one of Australia’s most important painters. Vincent Namatjira has shown in major solo institutional exhibitions in museums including The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2024) and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2023). In 2020, Namatjira was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) and became the first Indigenous Australian artist to win the prestigious Archibald Prize. In 2019, Namatjira won the Ramsay Art Prize, Australia’s most generous prize for artists under 40.