Richly Decorated Memorials Emerge From Ancient Traditions

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ted Loos
Memorial poles by the contemporary artists Joe Guymala, Gabriel Maralngurra and Joey Nganjmirra are among 112 on view in Virginia.Collection of Debra and Dennis Scholl
For indigenous artists all over the world, the march toward representation in museums has been slow and not at all steady. It has come in fits and starts. In North America, Canadian institutions have generally made more sustained efforts at devoting space and resources to indigenous art than those in the United States. But that has been changing of late. A current show at the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville offers American viewers a chance to see works by indigenous artists from a remote part of Australia’s Northern Territory known as Arnhem Land. [More]

The Fralin Museum of Art: "The Inside World: Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Memorial Poles" (Through May 22, 2020); The University of Virginia, 155 Rugby Road, Charlottesville, VA; 434-924-3592; uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu/