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Balancing Act

Our story is not one story, but many stories to share.

Balancing Act features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works of art from the State Art Collection. In this exhibition, you will encounter a vast range of material revealing the wide scope of First Nations truth-telling and art-making practice. Radical observations about the ups and downs of life are placed side by side with expressions of relationships with Custodial Country; the locations and places artists and communities care for, according to their kin and family ties with place.

Different versions of history are told, at times emotional and challenging, alongside moments of great beauty and poignancy. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists use their cultural production to investigate feelings and unpack ideas around identity in the wake of colonisation. Others use their work as a way to support and express their own grief and healing, as well as to express joy and cultural belonging.

Balancing Act invites you to be surprised, delighted and challenged by the stories told through the eyes of First Nations artists and their works of art.

The exhibition forms part of Re/Collections, a series of exhibitions presenting new ways of seeing, sharing, and showcasing works in the State Art Collection.

Related events

  • Ongoing
  • Free

related exhibitions

Re/Collections
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John Prince Siddon Will the babies make it? 2019. Acrylic paint on canvas, 118 x 119 cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: COVID-19 Arts Stimulus Package, 2020. © John Prince Siddon/Copyright Agency Ltd.

Balancing Act AGWA installation view, November 2021. Mr May (Ngarralja Tommy) Warla, Flat Country 2021. Brass, aluminium, stone and soil, dimensions variable. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Bequest of Bonice Tollafield. © Ngarralja Tommy May 2021. Photo: Bo Wong.

Sandra Hill Home-maker #4 2010. Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm (irregular). The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: TomorrowFund, 2011. © Sandra Hill, 2010.

Janet Fieldhouse Confluence 11 2017. Chocolate Brown, midfire terra, buff raku trachyte, red raku, Cool Ice and white raku, 21 x 33 x 27 cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased 2018. © Janet Fieldhouse, 2008.

Ginger Riley Untitled. Synthetic polymer paint (series of 3 paintings) on plywood, 40.5 x 48 cm irregular panel. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: TomorrowFund, 2010 Courtesy of the Estate of the Artist and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne. © Ginger Riley.

James Tylor (Deleted scenes) From an untouched landscape #6 2013. Inkjet print on Hahnemuhle paper, 50 x 50 cm. The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Leah Jane Cohen Bequest, The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2014. © James Taylor, 2013.

Amanda Bell From our lip, mouths, throats and belly 2021. Neon, audio, 158 x 300 x 6 cm. State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation: COVID-19 Arts Stimulus Package, 2020.

Exhibition Labels

Download Balancing Act artwork labels

Kedela wer kalyakoorl ngalak Wadjak boodjak yaak.

Today and always, we stand on the traditional land of the Whadjuk Noongar people.