Rainy Day at the NGA

We spent the morning at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. It has only just re-opened to visitors, after being closed due to covid for some time. Much of the building is still closed.

One area that was open, and that we really appreciated, was the collection of Australian Aboriginal art. Especially memorable was the Aboriginal Memorial (extra 1), an installation of 200 hollow log ceremonial coffins that was created for the Bicentenary of Australia (ie, 200 years since the first UK settlement in Sydney) in 1988. Details on this webpage from the NGA.

Another work that resonated (extra 2) was titled One Old Man's Dreaming by Old Tutuma Tjapangati, created in 1971 at Papanya in the Western Desert of the Northern Territory.