Four artworks from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) will go on display for two years at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre in Katoomba.
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The centre is partnering with the NGA through their Sharing the National Collection program which enables regional and suburban galleries to borrow from the national collection for extended periods of time.
Four video works by female First Nations artists from the NGA will be shown alongside three videos by Blue Mountains Aboriginal practitioners: Aunty Sharyn Halls (with Craig Bender and Vera Hong); Jo Clancy (with Sue Healey), and Leanne Tobin.
The works will be shown as part of a new exhibition Ngurra Bayala (Country speaks) and have been selected in consultation with local Dharug curator and artist Leanne Tobin.
Tobin worked with Blue Mountains City Council Artistic Program Leader, Rilka Oakley, on the selection of the works from the NGA Collection, which is home to more than 155,000 works of art, including the world's largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.
The final selection includes works by Megan Cope, Fiona Foley, Julie Gough and r e a, whose works spoke strongly to Tobin and Oakley.
"It's the truth telling of stories of place. It's the artists telling personal accounts from Ngurra, from Country...the artists' own stories," said Tobin.
"Hopefully the selection encourages people to come into the gallery. And hopefully, they leave with some kind of insight."
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill said council was "excited to be partnering with the NGA to bring these significant works into our exhibition space for the next two years, highlighting the importance of sharing First Nations stories".
Member for Macquarie and Special Envoy for the Arts, Susan Templeman, said she was delighted that the Blue Mountains has moved early to host artworks under the initiative, and that they've chosen First Nations' works.
"It is wonderful that the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre has seized the opportunity to draw art works from the national art collection and share them with new audiences," she said. "I think they will be appreciated by our own local community, which deeply values creative expression, but also attract visitors from outside the region over the next two years."
In all, seven artworks will contemporise the existing Into the Blue World Heritage Interpretive Centre, which is the Cultural Centre's permanent exhibition space. The existing footage from Into the Blue will still be on offer, and visitors can also enjoy Ngurra Bayala (Country speaks) which will be shown on a continual loop with the current landscape footage throughout the day.
In recognition of this new exhibition, Artlink Magazine have commissioned an article about the exhibition by Rilka Oakley and Leanne Tobin. This edition of Artlink will also launch the evening of Friday, December 15 to celebrate their annual Indigenous edition which this year will be titled, INDIGENOUSworking voices.
"The opportunity to be part of the National Gallery of Australia's Sharing the National Collection has enabled us to connect with nationally significant First Nations work and bring that work to our audiences," said Rilka Oakley.
"This opportunity has meant we now have seven contemporary First Nations videos on exhibition alongside our permanent World Heritage display," she said.
Ngurra Bayala (Country speaks) will open to the public with a launch event on Friday 15 December 15 to be opened by Mayor Mark Greenhill from 6 - 8pm. All are welcome.
