Taking place over two days this November, The Black Arts Market will celebrate and showcase the creative skills of nearly 100 Aboriginal artists from South East Australia.
Organised by Carriageworks and the City of Sydney, this cultural marketplace will be curated by Hetti Perkins and Jonathan Jones. Jones was recently announced as the first Indigenous Australian artist ever to head up a Kaldor Public Art Project, with his piece barrangal dyara (skin and bones) taking over some 20,000 square metres of the Royal Botanic Garden earlier this year.
Co-curators Perkins and Jones said of the market: “The south-east region of Australia is home Aboriginal communities with a rich cultural inheritance. The Black Arts Market showcases artists who have transformed their traditional knowledge and skills into contemporary artworks and products of wonderful and inspiring diversity. It’s a unique opportunity to ‘meet-the-makers’ and discover a wonderful world of cultural creativity and artistic enterprise right here in the heart of Sydney.”
The artists taking part hail from diverse areas across the Eastern coast of Australia, from regional and coastal New South Wales, southern Victoria, to the Murray basin catchment and Tasmania. Visitors can expect to see a wide and vibrant array of traditional Aboriginal works, including homewares, ceramics, contemporary visual arts, prints, and native foods.
Stallholders include Sydney-based visual artist Esme Timbery; Aboriginal florist Flannel Billy creating native arrangements onsite; wood carving demonstrations by Uncle Greg Simms; baskets woven from kelp (seaweed) by Tasmanian artist Netty Shaw; and traditional tools and weapons created by Andy Snelgar.
The market will also feature collaborations with local Aboriginal school students, including a Welcome to Country book developed by Alexandria Park Community School with their Artist in Residence Tony Albert; and the Jarjums Collection – a series of contemporary rugs created by The Rug Company and Wirriimbi Designs with students from Darlington Public School.
The Black Arts Market will take place at Carriageworks, on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th November. Stalls will be manned from 10am until 6pm and entry is free. For more information, please see the Carriageworks website.
Featured image: Esme Timbery, Sydney Harbour Bridge, photo by Jenni Carter
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