“Strangely enough, among all the chaos and discombobulation, it’s actually working in our favour,” says Reid.
The guest of honour at the exhibition’s recent launch party was Regina Pilawuk Wilson, described by Reid as Australia’s preeminent living female First Nations artist. Her work Wupun, a painting of a sun mat, occupies pride of place in the intimate gallery.
Gaypalani Wanambi’s work transforms found metal road signs. It is the US debut of her artwork.Credit: Leigh Vogel for Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Wilson has a special connection to Washington. In 2018, she painted two murals at the Phillips Collection in Dupont Circle, while her fishnet designs, inspired by traditional Aboriginal weaving, are featured in carpets throughout the Australian embassy.
Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, busy preparing for Albanese’s imminent visit, found time to meet Wilson and her family ahead of the exhibition’s opening, and show her the community hub and meeting room at the embassy, which is named in her honour.
Stars also showcases works by Gaypalani Wanambi – a Yolŋu artist from Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land, and the winner of the prestigious 2025 Telstra Art Award – as well as Kuninjku carver and painter Owen Yalandja and contemporary artist Christian Thompson, among others.
“We’re showing quite a broad range of work,” says Meagher. “We are trying to open an entry point for new North American collectors into First Nations art, and we want to show that there’s a real breadth that’s probably beyond what’s expected.”
Joy Lauren Hawker, granddaughter of artist Regina Pilawuk Wilson, in a dress created by her grandmother.Credit: Leigh Vogel for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Sales have been slower than initially expected due to the absence of the National Gallery show, but Meagher says there has been fresh interest from institutional collectors in the past week. The exhibition has been extended until November 9.
“It’s going OK, but there’s still work to do,” he says. “We have sold probably 65-70 per cent of the show now. Ideally, we would have been getting close to selling out. So we’re giving ourselves an extra couple of weeks.”
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Indigenous art has found favour among some North American collectors, most notably the actor Steve Martin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art added new Indigenous artworks to its reopened Michael C. Rockefeller wing earlier this year, though they represented only a fraction of the Oceanic exhibit.
There have also been setbacks, including a poor Sotheby’s auction in New York last year, widely seen as having been held too soon after the death of well-connected dealer Tim Klingender.
Meanwhile, the NGV’s touring exhibition remains locked up inside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, waiting for politicians on nearby Capitol Hill to put aside their differences, reopen the government and throw open the museum doors.
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