Reconciliation Action Plan

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Reconciliation Action Plan 39 CASE STUDY: EXHIBITION ‘Mavis Ngallametta: Show Me the Way to Go Home’, Queensland Art Gallery, 22 June 2020 – 7 February 2021 Kugu-Uwanh Elder Mavis Ngallametta (1944–2019) made a profound contribution to arts and culture both in Queensland and nationally and was one of the most esteemed senior community-based artists in Australia. Presented with the support of Principal Benefactor the Neilson Foundation, ‘Show Me the Way to Go Home’ surveyed a decade of the artist's intricate, animated paintings, through which she expressed the stories and memories of her homeland, and brought together major works from her Pamp/Swamp, Kendall River, Wutan, Ikalath, Yalgamunken, intertidal estuary and powerful bushfire series. Following the artist’s passing in 2019, QAGOMA worked closely with the artist’s estate through co-managers Gina Allain, Guy Allain and Martin Browne to develop the exhibition. In recognition of Mavis Ngallametta’s role as a cultural leader of Aurukun’s Wik and Kugu peoples, artwork labels in the exhibition and passages in the accompanying publication were translated into Wik-Mungkan and Kugu- Uwanh. The Gallery hopes to continue introducing relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages to make our spaces more informative and inclusive. An extensive video series on the exhibition was also created with QAGOMA’s Curator of Indigenous Australian Art and co-curator of the exhibition, Katina Davidson. This series was shared across QAGOMA’s wide range of digital and social channels and promoted extensively by the Gallery’s sponsors and partners. Despite being affected by Gallery closure due to COVID-19, ‘Show Me the Way to Go Home’ was attended by 156 520 visitors. From the time of initial discussions about the possibility of a survey of Mavis Ngallametta’s work, the QAGOMA team were at pains to involve Mavis with the planning and conceptualising of the exhibition and to ensure that it would be a reflection of her view of her world. I think it is testament to the QAGOMA team who worked with Mavis in the time that they had, that she felt confident of leaving the legacy of her final exhibition in their hands. Martin Browne Director, Martin Browne Contemporary, and representative for Mavis Ngallametta (l-r) Queensland Museum Curator Imelda Miller, artist Sonja Carmichael, curator Freja Carmichael, Chair of QAGOMA’s IAP Avril Quaill, artist Judy Watson, arts worker Jasper Coleman, artist Elisa Jane Carmichael and teacher Elizabeth Cowie, at the entrance to ‘Mavis Ngallametta: Show Me the Way to Go Home’, QAG / Photograph: Joe Ruckli From top: Mavis Ngallametta with her painting Little swamp on the way to Obun 2018 (Purchased 2018. QAGOMA Foundation), Cairns / Photograph: Anna Rogers / Image courtesy: Newspix Installation views of ‘Mavis Ngallametta: Show Me the Way to Go Home’, QAG / Photographs: Chloë Callistemon