While You Were Sleeping Volume 2 is a series of contemporary art and creative projects featuring First Nations artists from around Australia, being held at the Kambri precinct at the Australian National University (Canberra) until the end of July 2022.
In 2019, While You Were Sleeping Volume 1 launched aMBUSH Gallery in Canberra, and in the ensuing years the gallery has collaborated with some of the country’s most powerful emerging artists in exhibitions and public art projects.
This year, in a cultural partnership with Ceremony – the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) – While You Were Sleeping Volume 2 is a showcase of contemporary Indigenous artists from multi-disciplinary backgrounds including street art, fine art, photography, illustration, digital, sculpture, film and more.
Proudly featuring the incredibly powerful voices of an emerging generation of artists and creatives, While You Were Sleeping Volume 2 also features groundbreaking and established artists from contemporary arts communities in Australia such as Blak Douglas, Maddie Gibbs, Brenda Croft and Dennis Golding.
Activations will include a dynamic group show at aMBUSH Gallery in the Kambri Cultural Centre (from 19 May) where the narratives and multi-layered histories of a new generation of First Nations artists will be told through the work of painters, illustrators, photographers, digital artists, object designers, sculptors and more.
In addition, aMBUSH Gallery have curated large-scale artworks by First Nations artists which are now on display at Exhibition Avenue, Kambri’s 24/7 outdoor public art space on University Avenue. The works will examine the joys and despair encountered in their quest to secure recognition, equality and respect for the First Nations culture, heritage and people.
Held in conjunction with the ANU Film Group, While You Were Sleeping Volume 2 also features a rich program including First Nations-focused film screenings in the Kambri Cultural Centre, including:
- Jedda (1955) – Wednesday 6 July: 7.30pm
- Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) – Thursday 7 July: 7.30pm
- My Name is Gulpilil (2021) – Friday 8 July: 7.30 pm
- Sweet Country (2017) – Saturday 9 July: 7.30pm
- The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson (2021) – Sun 10 July: 7.30pm
While You Were Sleeping Volume 2 is presented by Kambri at ANU and is curated and produced by aMBUSH Gallery. For more information and full program, visit: www.ambushgallery.com for details.
Image: Dennis Golding, Untitled [North Headland of Botany Bay] – photo by Jack Cook