THE Art Gallery of Ballarat has received a donation of work by late Aboriginal artist Josh Muir.<\/p>\n
Created in 2015 and 2016, the piece titled Many places to get help<\/em>, was donated to the gallery collection by the estate of the late Joel Coatsworth, after he acquired it in unusual circumstances.<\/p>\n The artwork was originally commissioned by Cafs as part of an anti-gambling campaign, however the welfare agency never went through with the purchase.<\/p>\n Mr Coatsworth, who was working for Cafs at the time then purchased the piece directly from Muir.<\/p>\n A Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara man, Muir died in 2020. Mr Coatsworth was killed in a car crash the following year.<\/p>\n \u201cJosh Muir was a very exciting young artist whose work we are proud to have in the collection,\u201d said Humphrey Clegg, assistant director of engagement at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.<\/p>\n \u201cHe worked in a vibrant, street-art style, and his works are very distinctive, very bold and contemporary.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other works of his which we hold in our collection explore aspects of his identity as a young Indigenous man, but in this work, he has addressed a problem which affects many people in our community and which he felt a strong connection to.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very grateful to Joel Coatsworth\u2019s mother Faye Hinton and the Coatsworth family for donating it to the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n