University of California Davis Art Museum highlights Australian Indigenous artists

Twelve leading Australian Indigenous artists and UNSW's Cicada Press have been honoured with an exhibition exploring contemporary art, cultures and politics at the University of California Davis' prestigious C.N. Gorman Museum.

Already generating positive critical responses and strong attendances Contemporary Experience/Political Expression: Australian Aboriginal Prints from Cicada Press surveys new and recent art produced at UNSW Art & Design by visiting artists and is co-curated by Tess Allas, Director of Indigenous Programs at UNSW Art & Design, and Michael Kempson, founder of Cicada Press.  

All of the works featured have been produced since 2012, and highlight the various printmaking techniques that are available to visiting artists, as well as showcasing the depth of talent and experience that the Aboriginal artists who spend time in the Art & Design printmaking studios on Paddington Campus bring with them.

For more than forty years, the C.N. Gorman Museum has been dedicated to the creative expressions of Native American artists and artists of diverse cultures and histories.

The Museum’s reputation for artistic excellence has been established by exhibiting many of the most signficant Native American artists as well as the next generations of emerging Indigenous artists. 

The C.N. Gorman Museum is unique for its commitment to exhibiting works by living Indigenous artists, particularly within an educational institution. 

The Museum founded in 1973 by the Department of Native American Studies in honour of retired faculty member, Carl Nelson Gorman, Navajo artist, WWII code-talker, cultural historian, and advocate for Native peoples. As a founding faculty member of Native American Studies, Gorman was the first faculty member to teach Native American art at UC Davis in 1969.

Artists featured in the exhibition include: Reko Rennie, Tony Albert, Vernon Ah Kee, David Frank, Brenda L Croft, Christine Dumas, Aunty Joy Duncan, Darrell Sibosado, Garry Sibosado, Laurel Nannup, Raymond Zada and Dale Harding.