10am - 5pm
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Wellesley Street East

With over 150 works from 1890 to today, Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia is the largest overview of art by First Peoples of Australia to be presented in Aotearoa.

Drawn from the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, Ever Present highlights the diverse peoples and artistic practices across Australia. It is a celebration of First Peoples of Australia art exploring the interlinking themes of Ancestors, Community, Culture, Colonisation, and Identity. Knowledge systems are passed down through oral histories, dancing, stories and songlines or songspirals that traverse diverse lands, coming together to evoke Ancestral creation stories known by some Communities as the Dreaming or Tjukurrpa. Art is also used as a tool of resistance. Artists utilise wit and juxtaposition to encourage conversation about critical issues of the past and present. The artworks included in Ever Present address Australia’s complex histories and challenge stereotypes about First Peoples of Australia.