A SPECTACULAR new Indigenous artwork has been unveiled on the Australian Catholic University Canberra campus.
George Williams unveils the artwork yesterday
Created by artist Riki Salam, who was unable to attend the event yesterday, the 6m x 4m full colour digital art piece is striking enough to be partially seen when driving down Phillip Avenue.
Yesterday after Aunty Agnes Shea conducted a smoking ceremony, over 100 people, including Chris Bourke MLA, Year 6 students from Rosary Primary School, staff and students of the university and Indigenous support officers from schools and the ACT Government gathered underneath the image while David Williams, the CEO of Indigenous-owned and operated creative agency, Gilimbaa, told the crowd about the artwork.
Salam represents a new generation of Indigenous artists working comfortably with corporate clients and Gilimbaa, of which he became creative director in 2010, is an accredited supplier under Supply Nation, working with companies including CBA, Telstra, Qantas, NRL, NAB, BP, Lend Lease and Woolworths. It was approached to design the 2014 G20 logo.
Born and raised in Cairns, his father is a Torres Strait man from Moa Island who was relocated to Mossman at the beginning of World War II and his mother is Ngāi Tahu from Kaiapoi in New Zealand. After studying visual art and design in Brisbane, Salam fine-tuned his craft at the Balarinji Indigenous art studio and worked with Darwin’s Indigenous artists’ co-operative Larrakia Nation conducting artists workshops.
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