Renowned artist Tony Albert meets some of Australias most exciting contemporary Indigenous artists in NITVs Colour Theory
Wednesday 27 April, 2016
Four-part series returns Sundays from 12 June, 9pm on NITV (Ch 34 & Foxtel 144)
Colour Theory returns to NITV with award-winning host Tony Albert exploring the worlds of some of the country’s most exciting contemporary artists. Delving into the personal journeys of Julie and Clive Freeman, Karla Dickens, Frances Belle Parker and Jason Wing, the new series paints our screens with vibrant stories of history, culture and pride that unearth techniques to preserve cultural traditions through contemporary visual storytelling.
Tony Albert, Host, says: “Being featured as one of the first artists in Colour Theory only four years ago, I never imagined I would be hosting this third iteration. It is an honour and a privilege. This new series showcases the diverse cultural expression of Australia, where through art, we can come to understand the world we live in.
“The stories, passion and talent of the artists featured is incredibly inspiring – despite their differences in geography, medium, artistic training and conceptual concerns, they are all united by a sense of pride and belief in their culture.”
Julie and Clive Freeman
Episode One, Sunday 12 June, 9pm
The unique artistic partnership of Julie Freeman and her son Clive is at one with their Galamban (home country), revitalising traditional cultural practices by exhibiting them within the context of contemporary art. As Yuin cultural custodians, they employ ‘the materials of country to tell stories of country’. Reeds, shells and ochre gathered from the shores of Wreck Bay, on New South Wales’ south-coast, all find a place in the vibrant artistic panoply of their lives. Yet, this is not a tradition
trapped in the past. Clive’s art expresses new pathways for translating an ancient heritage in a contemporary world, whist Julie reveals that there is more to this art than meets the eye — ‘sometimes the hands that make things are not only yours’.
Karla Dickens
Episode Two, Sunday 19 June, 9pm
Karla Dickens’ lifelong search for belonging has taken her from a tumultuous coming of age in Sydney to the idyllic rural setting of New South Wales’ Northern Hinterlands, with years of self-imposed exile and recovery in between. Art has played a vital role in Karla’s journey and her contemporary collages, sculptures and installations reflect a personal story, using a mixture of history and textural layers of materials to contextualise her artwork. Now with her young daughter and sometimes collaborator, Ginger by her side, Karla haunts local recycling depots and second-hand stores with a bowerbird’s eye for ‘rusty, crusty things that have got a history’.
Frances Belle Parker
Episode Three, Sunday 26 June, 9pm
Memories of stories told by her Yaegl ancestors inspire the contemporary art of Frances Belle Parker, the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Blake Art Prize. In her home studio in the township of Maclean on the Clarence River, Frances creates ‘mind maps’ of her country – part of a flourishing cultural renaissance. Sharing her sadness of the town’s Scottish ancestry engulfing her own culture of the Yaygirr people, her art reflects the Aboriginal strength, knowledge and survival stories told to her by her ancestors. The ‘sacred heartbeat of the Yaegl people’ is Ulgundahi Island, on the Clarence River – the creative touchstone for one of Frances’ major installations. Tony Albert visits the island with three generations of Yaegl women – the artist, her mother and daughter.
Jason Wing
Episode Four, Sunday 3 July, 9pm
Jason Wing grew up in ‘two worlds’, between the suburbs of Cabramatta, known as ‘western Sydney’s Chinatown’, and the bushland of his Biripi ancestors. Working with present-day iconography and repurposing found and existing objects, Jason brings the unique artistic fusion that expresses his dual heritage to the people of Sydney – from Parliament House to the busy streets of Chinatown, Redfern and Kings Cross. In response to the truism that ‘history is written by the victors’, Jason writes his own ‘history’ in sculptures and installations that can literally shed light on the dark and hidden parts of the city and Australia’s history. Through his art, Jason courageously pricks the national conscience, but his quest for the truth has significant personal consequences.