Exhibition for Indigenous art

ARTWORK, woodcraft, and even a decorated toilet from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands artists is on display at Dudley House until Sunday.

Yorta Yorta woman, artist and curator Janet Bromley has carefully selected the works for the Knuldoorong Art Exhibition, showcasing First Nations culture.

“One of the things I try to do is to have your eye drawn to the next thing, so you don’t get to a place where you think I’ve seen enough and walk out,” she said.

Every year I’m blown away by quality of the art, the variety of the art and also the colour.”

“For ever and ever Aboriginal people have communicated with song, dance and mark-making.

“Painting is a part of mark-making, this is a natural thing for Aboriginal people to do, this is storytelling to tell you about their life, their family their issues in drawing and doing paintings.”

Bromley said a major theme of the exhibition is “straight-out storytelling” with some stories “quite clear” and others “a bit subtle”.

In the back room, visitors can find two beautifully crafted digeridoos and a colourfully painted toilet.

“I wanted to have a special spot for the didges, I wanted them to stand by themselves… I think they’re really beautiful pieces of art,” Bromley said.

“I didn’t want the toilet to take away from anything else because it’s a really interesting piece of work.”

This year’s exhibition marks the first for Bromley in her unique role as the City of Greater Bendigo’s First Nations arts officer.

The works are available for purchase and will be on display from 11am to 4pm.

Find Dudley House at 60 View Street, Bendigo.