"Our Land-Our Body" The Largest Australian Art Exhibition To Ever Hit China#
"Our Land - Our Body"
While China's new generation of seemingly insatiable art collectors gets most of the attention, the country is also churning out a new generation of art lovers, who turn out for openings and exhibitions in ever-increasing numbers. This steadily building interest in art has been evident with the success of a massive touring exhibition of Australian Aboriginal artwork currently making its way throughout China, "Tu Di - Shen Ti; Our Land - Our Body." The largest-ever show of Australian art to ever go on display in China, "Our Land - Our Body" has introduced the Ngaanyatjarra artists of the Warburton Ranges and Western Desert lands to a new audience of hundreds of thousands in five Chinese cities.
First conceived by curator Gary Proctor in 2008, the aim of the sprawling exhibition was initially, as Proctor put it, "to make a virtual bombing run of big museums in China, offering the finest Warburton works in a large selection." When planning the exhibition, Proctor chose to start with Shanghai, but interest from museums in Beijing and several second-tier cities incited Proctor and his team to increase the scope of "Our Land - Our Body" even further. Since launching, the turnout for the exhibition has been so impressive that the Xi'an Art Museum (where the show is currently on display) has offered to take it to an additional six cities in 2013.
So what is it about this exhibition that has "clicked" with Chinese audiences? Australia's ABC takes a look this week:
For 'Our Land- Our Body', 65 canvasses were selected to tour; they are displayed alongside 6, 500 photographs taken mainly by Aboriginal children and a 24-channel digital audio-visual show. "It's the largest Australian art exhibition ever to go around China," says Proctor proudly. "It's massive."
Rio Tinto has been a major sponsor, with backing from Healthway WA. "With those grants we've been able to print off 4,000 education books in Chinese, and 75-page guide notes on each painting for school teachers. We're giving them away, not charging them. I've given talks to large groups to Chinese teachers, through interpreters."
The show was seen by 85,000 people in Shanghai, and 37,000 in Nanjing, where it was the first international show to be staged at the city's Municipal Museum. "Now we have relationships that can spread this art - we're promised a second tour of several cities in the remotest western parts of China, poor but culturally diverse."
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So what have Chinese people said to Proctor about seeing Aboriginal art for the first time? "They say it's a fantastic experience, a human space. They encounter beautiful art and thousands of photos taken by local children, and text that explains each painting and the people behind it. People are fascinated."