Exhibit Tour: The Stars We Do Not See, Australian Indigenous Art
- Roshani Kothari
- Feb 22
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 23
by Roshani Kothari
On Friday, February 20th, a small group of us from the DC EcoWomen community met with Nathalie Ryan, Senior Educator at the National Gallery of Art for an exhibit tour of The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, one of the world's largest exhibition of indigenous Australian art, with nearly 200 works of art from the late 1800s to today. Nathalie shared the history, culture and art of ancient Australian indigenous communities, and provided insights about the processes they used to make these incredible works of art. The exhibit ends on March 1st, and there will be a guided tour, an artist talk, and Didgeridoo musical performances in the week ahead. Before you check out the exhibit, it's worth checking out this article, Seven Things to Know About Australian Indigenous Art.
Preserving Indigenous Knowledge
As you walk down from the atrium to the exhibit, you can see beautiful weavings hanging from the ceiling. These weavings are made from natural materials and dyes, and are called Mun-Dirra, Maningrida fish fence. Learn more about them in the video below.
Sharing Stories Through Art
When you see works of art, it's often difficult to understand their meaning without some context. During the tour, we learned about the Gulumbu Yunupingu (also known as Star Lady), whose work inspired the name for the exhibit. Nathalie Ryan explained that Gulumbu said that there are stars we do not see because "what we do in our own lives will illuminate the future." Future generations will see these "stars" or the impact of our actions today.
Featuring Voices of Elders & Young Innovators
The exhibit features art from the elders who are preserving their stories and culture, and young innovators who are speaking out about racism, colonialism and efforts to preserve their culture and traditions. It includes traditional weavings, photography, multimedia, paintings, jewelry and more. We are grateful to Nathalie Ryan for guiding us through this exhibit, and sharing the stories behind these incredible works of art that illustrate the power and wisdom of Australian indigenous cultures.
“This art exhibit shows the tenacity of Aboriginal peoples’ ability to adapt at all costs; they have transformed their impermanent traditional art making processes, like body and bark paintings, into more permanent structures with synthetic paints, as a direct response to colonialism. They want the world to see who they are, and that people like them can still exist despite historical oppression.” - Rosey Pasco, DC EcoWomen Board Member
"One of my favorite paintings is Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) by Betty Muffler. It depicted the strength and resilience Aboriginal communities derive from mutual support, connection, and solidarity, a particularly relevant message for today's challenging times!"
-Ambika Chawla, DC EcoWomen Board Member
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