The Stars Before Us All | Eora/Sydney Edition

Michael Reid Sydney is delighted to present a specially curated companion exhibition to The Stars Before Us All – our upcoming exhibition of contemporary First Nations art in Washington, D.C. Ahead of our show’s opening in the US capital on Wednesday, 15 October, Michael Reid Sydney’s expansive presentation of The Stars Before Us All is now unfolding across the entire exhibition space at our flagship gallery in Chippendale and will continue concurrently with our stateside survey throughout October.

This significant group exhibition offers local collectors and gallery visitors the opportunity to experience and acquire extraordinary new and historical work by more than 15 luminaries of contemporary First Nations art at a watershed moment during which their practice is being celebrated on the international stage.

Reflecting the project’s international scope, the Eora/Sydney edition of The Stars Before Us All supports the gallery’s ambition to embed First Nations art within a globe-spanning network of collectors, curators and institutions, joining the cross-cultural dialogue forged by the National Gallery of Victoria’s landmark touring exhibition The Stars We Do Not See, which will travel across North America over the next two years following its debut at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Echoing the work of the NGV and the National Gallery of Art, The Stars Before Us All highlights practising First Nations artists and key historical works, offering a contemporary complement to the NGV’s sweeping institutional survey. The Eora/Sydney edition of The Stars Before Us All is anchored by a significant suite of historical works by Regina Pilawuk Wilson, who will travel to Washington, D.C. this month as the guest of honour at our opening celebration for The Stars Before Us All – the first occasion for her to visit the room named in her honour at the Australian Embassy to the United States.

Joining Wilson in the exhibition’s local contingent is Kuninjku artist Owen Yalandja, who was awarded the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award at this year’s Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, as well as Yankunytjatjara artist and three-time Wynne Prize finalist Betty Chimney, Yolŋu artist Djirrirra Wunuŋmurra Yukuwa and many more. The exhibition also features a sublime painting by the late visionary Emily Kam Kngwarray, whose career-spanning retrospective is currently on view at the Tate Modern in London, and a work by the late Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori.

To discuss works from The Stars Before Us All, please email hughholm@michaelreid.com.au