Gary DONNELLY
Nations: Gunditjmara/Gunai, Victoria
Lives: Melbourne, Victoria

Upon a brief visit to a gallery not so long ago, I came upon a person whom to my surprise didn’t have much to offer in regards to Aboriginal art or for that matter a decent understanding of what it is. The best that could be offered was that sometimes they occasionally get in some boomerangs, and that they looked beautiful because they were done with a burning pencil.

As I looked around I could see that the work that was there at the gallery was in fact from a central desert style and influence, wrapped and packaged. From my point of view what I could see was something that closely resembled a warehouse and not that of an art gallery, a warehouse ready to ship its merchandise to who knows where, to throw it away like a boomerang.

As a Victorian Aboriginal artist I feel that it is my responsibility and obligation to educate those that just don’t get it, that in fact we are from a diverse amalgamation of mediums and that we have an identity of our own, whether it is visually, verbally or through means of song or dance. The fact is we are from a wide spectrum of artistic expression.

Gary Donnelly