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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Eddy Frankel

‘A young fella like me doesn’t want to make traditional paintings’: how Indigenous art swept the UK

‘I want Aboriginal kids to feel proud’ … The Royal Den by Vincent Namatjira
‘I want Aboriginal kids to feel proud’ … The Royal Den by Vincent Namatjira Photograph: Courtesy of the artist, Ames Yavuz and Iwantja Arts

Seemingly out of nowhere, Indigenous art is everywhere. We’ve gone decades – centuries, really – in this country with barely any exhibitions dedicated to the work of Indigenous artists, but recently, everything’s changed. Galleries, museums and institutions across the UK are hosting shows by artists from communities in South America, Australia, the US and Europe at an unprecedented rate.

Tate Modern in London is putting on its first-ever major solo show by a First Nation Australian artist in July, with a Sámi artist from Norway taking over the Turbine Hall in October. There are shows by Native American artists at Camden Art Centre in London and Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery, while painters and weavers from the Amazon and Argentina are coming to Manchester’s Whitworth and Bexhill-on-Sea’s De La Warr Pavilion.

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