Tell

Tell explores Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, history and culture through a focus on photography and its expanded field. The exhibition brings together the work of 17 Indigenous contemporary artists that deploy photographic technologies in varying ways to negotiate change on their own terms.

The exhibition assembles a diverse collection of photo-based and photo-inspired works that narrate, relate, determine and decide – embracing tradition and culture as well as the potential that new technologies offer contemporary practice. Photography is located as a powerful outlet for self-expression and self-determination, and a medium empowering device for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to reframe and redefine.

Set against a backdrop of social and political discourse, the exhibition aims to breakdown stereotypical views of Australian Indigeneity – offering the opportunity for audiences to engage with the dynamism of Indigenous identities, and expand their traditional understanding of photography.

Tell presents a culturally dynamic narrative that speaks to the personal as collective experience of the artists. The exhibitions mass narrative simultaneously focussing outward and inward in a cyclic reflection – illustrating stories of experience, history and culture to provoke a deeper understanding of Indigenous identities, culture and continuity and the complexities that come with it.