Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, the Our Land is Alive exhibition features works by Aboriginal elders from Hermannsburg in the Northern Territory.
Known as the "Hermannsburg Potters," the women have recreated iconic moments in AFL history, including the 1993 image of Nicky Winmar lifting his St Kilda shirt to reveal his skin colour.
Former team mate and fellow Indigenous player Gilbert McAdam was on the ground when history was made.
"That was part of the change of football, change of the racial vilification," he said. "The AFL actually initiated it, from that."
"A lot of good came out of that."
But McAdam said he had no idea the impact the game would have at the time.
"It was just one of them games that we were a part of," he said. "[I] didn't realise it at the time, how big it was. Yeah, it's history now."
He also featured among the works which celebrate the contribution Indigenous players have made to AFL.
Breaking ground
The works were created by the Hermannsburg Potters, a group of Western Arrernte women, from a small community south of Alice Springs.
They normally tell stories of the land through their art but the elders are also big footy fans, so these works are an opportunity to expand on the pottery they've been producing for more than 25 years.
Artist Judith Inkamala said she’s wanted to work on something new for a while, since she was taught art from on the nation’s most prominent Aboriginal artist.
“From long time I make landscape first, because I learnt from Albert Namatjira,” Aunty Judith said.
“I saw Albert Namatjira when I was a girl, that's where I learnt from him.”
The exhibition comes as the racism in sport debate is reignited.
Gilbert McAdam says things aren’t as bad now as they were when he was playing.
“You’re never going to eradicate racism,” he said.
“It's going to always be there.
The good thing is, it's all about education. And the more we educate people, and the more people can turn it into a good…well it's infectious and it spreads throughout the community.”
Carlton star Syd Jackson agreed education was the key.
“Some sections in the community still don’t understand Aboriginal culture at all,” he said. “It’s a bit sad.”
The National Gallery of Victoria’s Director, Tony Ellwood, said he hoped the exhibition could help.
“Art often is a great catalyst for discussion and debate and also for enabling people to look at more tolerant views.”
The pots are on display at the Ian Potter Centre until April.
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