Hope, heart and home leads at the National Indigenous Art Triennial: ‘We are going through a stage of enlightenment’

‘Blak isn’t a colour, it’s a state of being’ … Tony Albert, artist and curator of the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia, in front of portraits of the artists by Vincent Namatjira. Photograph: National Gallery of Australia

On the banks of the Lhara Pinta (Finke River) in Central Australia in 1940, Western Arrarnta landscape painter Albert Namatjira began building a two-room home of sandstone and lime with an iron roof, planting watermelon crops around it. The house stands today, and artist Tony Albert, who only recently discovered its existence, says it is a “fantastic destination” that anyone can visit.

“I couldn’t believe this house Albert had built,” he says. “I’ve lined up in the street just to visit Frida Kahlo’s house [La Casa Azul, in Mexico City] and likewise Albert’s house needs to be much better recognised.”