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The Artbank collection holds works by some of Australia’s most significant artists. These works promote the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public via our leasing program. However, on some occasions Artbank is able to loan our collection to curators, galleries and art institutions to be seen by an even larger audience.
In one of our most recent loans we see Artbank’s stunning triptych by Mr R Peters tour across Australia in an exhibition titled - Void, supported by M&G NSW, UTS Gallery and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. Void is curated by Emily McDaniel an independent curator, writer and educator form the Kalari Clan of the Wiradjuri nation. The exhibition explores the spaces left by artists and the powerful presence this unknown fills.
“Art is defined as much by what it is, as what it isn’t. Artists express what we don’t have words for and that’s certainly what you’ll find with the Indigenous artists that have been included in this exhibition.” Emily McDaniel
Artbank acquired Three Nyawana in Yariny Country, by Mr R Peters in 2018. The work is three panels and over five metres long, however - the vast blackness of the canvas is seemingly endless as it engulfs the viewer in a dark blanket of piercing stars.
It is this blackness that Emily McDaniel is searching in her touring exhibition – Void.
“the void isn’t empty space, it’s filled with significance, we just need to change the way we think.” Emily McDaniel 2019.
Mr R Peters was a senior Gija law man from the East Kimberly. He began painting at Waringarri Aboriginal Art Centre in Kununurra in 1989, along with Rover Thomas. His works were grounded in Gija law, his strong knowledge of country and culture as well as his personal history as a stockman and activist.
In this work Peters paints Garnkiny or moon dreaming as it appears to the artist in his own country, Yariny. The underpinning story of the landscape is one informed by Gija kinship/skin system, specifically the taboo governing a mother-in-law and son-in-law.
For more information about Void and the touring schedule.
