'Artists of The North Country: Arnhem Land and Beyond'

27 June - 22 July 2023

An exhibition of artworks from one of Australia’s oldest continuously living cultural regions is showing at Mitchell Fine Art in Fortitude Valley Brisbane.

Arnhem Land is in the north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory and is a vast, unspoiled wilderness area that has deep ties to Aboriginal people.

The area covers about 97,000 km and is around 500km from the nearest capital city. The strong cultural heritage of this region is reflected in the quality and content of the Aboriginal art produced by its people.

Arnhem Land is said to be the home of the oldest continuously living cultures in the world, with a diversity of different languages, customs, and laws. There is a storytelling tradition which is more than 50,000 years old.

A substantial proportion of the population lives on small outstations or homelands and the area remains one of the largest parcels of Aboriginal-owned land in Australia.

Artists of the North Country brings together a collection of works gathered over the past four decades. The exhibition features bark paintings, hollow log memorial poles, works on paper and paintings.

Each item depicts creation events and stories of deep spiritual and cultural importance to the artist. In a culture with no written language, these stories are passed down from generation to generation through dance, ceremony, and art.

The strong cultural heritage of this region is reflected in the quality and content of the Aboriginal art being produced today.