Aretha Brown is a young, queer, Blak artist. Her multidisciplinary practice is grounded in truth-telling and celebrates First Nations history, knowledge and empowerment. In 2019, Brown founded the **Kiss My Art Collective that champions young women and non-binary artists to create large-scale public murals. To date, **Kiss My Art Collective has completed more than 65 murals throughout Australia and internationally. Brown is also recognised for her graphic imagery and merchandise range including DECOLONISE YOUR SELF! Conversation Cards For The Thoughtful Ally that seek to foster awareness and real change through conversation and self- Reflection. Brown’s work is featured in the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, which opens at the National Gallery of Australia in December.

Works of art discussed:

1. Yhonnie Scarce, Kokatha/Nukunu/Mirning peoples, Glass Bomb (Blue Danube) Series I 2015, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2016, © Courtesy of the artist & THIS IS NO FANTASY
2. Reg Mombassa, Mambo Graphics, More a part of the landscape than a pair of trousers c 1985, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of Mambo Graphics, Sydney 1989, © Reg Mombassa
3. Tony Albert, Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples, and Vincent Namatjira, Western Aranda people, Australia's most wanted 2018, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2019, © Tony Albert/Copyright Agency
4. Diego Rivera, Sueño 1932, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dylan Mooney shares stories of resilience, connection and love in his highly colourful and decorated portraits of First Nations peoples. Legally blind, Mooney works primarily with digital technology, backlit screens enable him to create complex images that can be reproduced on paper, canvas or multi-story buildings. His images are informed by community stories, current affairs and share a deep optimism and pride. An early career artist, Mooney’s works are held in public collections and have been widely exhibited and illustrated, including on the cover of Rolling Stone Australia magazine. Mooney’s work is featured in the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, which opens at the National Gallery of Australia in December.

Works of art discussed:

1. Kaylene Whiskey, Yankunytjatjara people, Visitors to Iwantja Arts 2022, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2023, © Kaylene Whiskey/ Copyright Agency
2. Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Kaiadilt people, Outside Dibirdibi 2008, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, acquired with the Founding Donors 2009 Fund, © Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda (Sally Gabori)/Copyright Agency
3. Ken Thaiday Snr., Meriam Mer people, Whoumerr, frigate bird; dance mask 1991, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra
4. Kara Walker, Testimony: Narrative of a Negress Burdened by Good Intentions 2004, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 2021, © Kara Walker

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thea Anamara Perkins’ paintings are imbued with strength, warmth and quiet determination. Family members and the artist’s Arrernte homeland are recurring subjects, often drawn from Perkin’s familial archives that include prominent fighters for social justice and First Peoples’ rights. An early career artist, Perkins has exhibited since 2018, and her paintings are held in numerous public collections including the National Portrait Gallery. Perkins’ work is featured in the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, which opens at the National Gallery of Australia in December.

Works of art discussed:

1. Gordon Bennett, Poet 1994, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, acquired 1995, Gordon Darling Australasian Print Fund 1995, © The Estate of Gordon Bennett
2. Michael Riley, Untitled from the series Sacrifice [palms with stigmata]1992-93, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased with the assistance of the KODAK (Australasia) PTY LTD Fund 1993, Reproduced courtesy of the Michael Riley Foundation/Copyright Agency
3. Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anmatyerr people, Alhalker - my Country1992, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, acquired 2022
4. Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anmatyerr people, Untitled (batik) 1981, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased in 2023 in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary 2022, © Emily Kam Kngwarray/Copyright Agency

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Warraba Weatherall is an artist, lecturer and cultural scholar. His research-led practice seeks to regenerate Kamilaroi knowledge systems and critique museum and archival practices. Weatherall’s sculptures and installations appear minimal yet open complex dialogues on surveillance, incarceration, power and control. Weatherall has exhibited across Australia and internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 2025. Along with Tony Albert, Weatherall is also a member of the Aboriginal arts collective, proppaNOW. Weatherall’s work is featured in the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, which opens at the National Gallery of Australia in December.

Works of art discussed:

1. Archie Moore, Kamilaroi/Bigambul peoples, Family Tree 2021, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022, © Archie Moore
2. Guan Wei, Under the Southern Cross, 1999, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, © Arc One Gallery, on behalf of Guan Wei
3. Jenny Holzer, Inflammatory Essays, 1978–83, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1986, © Jenny Holzer/Copyright Agency
4. Jeffrey Smart, On the Roof, Taylor Square, 1961, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1969, © The Estate of Jeffrey Smart

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artistic Director for the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial is Tony Albert, Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples, one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists. Albert is a renowned artist, writer, and curator. He has a longstanding interest in the cultural misrepresentation of Aboriginal people, explaining, ‘There is a tension between what is seen and unseen and that is the space in which I create my work’. Drawing on both personal and collective histories and employing painting, photography, sculpture, video and text Albert considers the ways in which optimism might be utilised to overcome adversity. He poses crucial questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories.

Works of art discussed:

1. Arthur Koo'ekka Pambegan Jnr, Wik-Waya/Chaa-Ngkoth/Wik Mungkan/Winchanam peoples, Untitled XXXXI (Body Paint Design – Three Ancestral Figures) 2010, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra
2. Wangechi Mutu, The seated IV 2019, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased in celebration of the National Gallery of Australia's 40th anniversary, 2022, © Wangechi Mutu
3. Albert Namatjira, Western Arrarnta people, Blackwood Trees at Rapid Creek, Darwin 1950, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, Gordon and Marilyn Darling Hermannsburg Fund 2023, © Namatjira Legacy Trust/ Copyright Agency
4. Margaret Preston, Still life: fruit (Arnhem Land motif) 1941, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1976, © Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artists’ Artist is a podcast brought to you by the National Gallery of Australia. This season we’ll be speaking to artists whose work is featured in After the Rain, the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial that brings together commissioned work by established and emerging First Nations artists from across Australia, creating an important platform for art and ideas.

Series Information:

This series was produced by Audiocraft

Theme Music by Ravi Gupta

Segment Music is Hold Tight by Thalia Skopellos from Melodie Music

5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain exhibition identity by Aretha Brown

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, this episode of NGA Art Talks explores the intersection of text, poetry and art.

In 2024 the National Gallery, together with Red Room poetry, commissioned Vietnamese Australian writer and poet Nam Le and Palawa playwright Dylan Van Den Berg to respond to a work of art from the national collection.

Nam Le’s debut poetry collection 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem was published in March 2024 in Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and won Book of the Year at the 2025 New South Wales Literary Awards.

Le’s work has been translated into over fourteen languages and has received major awards in America, Europe and Australia, including the PEN/Malamud Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature and the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship. Le’s work has appeared in modern classics series and is widely anthologized and taught.

Le chose Sidney Nolan’s painting Quilting the armour, one of a series on the theme of the bushranger Ned Kelly. In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience as part of the Gallery’s Friday Art Talks program, Le reads his ekphrastic poem and shares insights into the writing process.

Artworks discussed:

Sidney Nolan - Quilting the armour

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To celebrate National Poetry Month, this episode of NGA Art Talks explores the intersection of text, poetry and art.

In 2024 the National Gallery, together with Red Room poetry, commissioned Vietnamese Australian writer and poet Nam Le and Palawa playwright Dylan Van Den Berg to respond to a work of art from the national collection.

A Palawa playwright from the northeast of lutruwita/Tasmania, Dylan Van Den Berg’s work explores Blak and Queer identities through the subversion of national stories to embolden Indigenous perspectives. Commissioned across Australia, his plays have won awards including the NSW Premier’s Award for Playwrighting.

Van Den Berg chose Benjamin Duterrau’s painting, Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy (1840). In this episode, recorded for a live audience as part of the Gallery’s Friday Art Taks program, Van Den Berg reads his ekphrastic commission and shares insights into the writing process.

NGA Art Talks is a podcast brought to you by the National Gallery of Australia.

Artworks discussed:

Benjamin Duterrau - Mr Robinson's first interview with Timmy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.