Tarnanthi turns 10: how a small South Australian festival became a super-sized champion of First Nations art

‘A supernova of 550 interlocking spears hand-carved by Aṉangu men’: Kuḻaṯa Tjuṯa, part of the exhibition Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi, at Art Gallery of South Australia. Photograph: Saul Steed/AGSA

Walking through the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) alongside Nici Cumpston, it’s as if the Barkandji artist and curator is surrounded by old friends.

For the past 10 years, Cumpston’s role as artistic director of Tarnanthi festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art – which this week celebrates a decade with a supersized statewide iteration spanning more than 30 exhibitions and events, including a major exhibition at AGSA – has seen her travel widely and listen deeply to bring these canvases, sculptures and video works to Kaurna country.