Celebrating emerging
First Nations artists
with the
National Gallery of Victoria

Future Country. Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions

THE IAN POTTER CENTRE:
NGV AUSTRALIA
FEDERATION SQUARE 20 MAR –
13 SEP 26
FREE ENTRY

FUTURE COUNTRY is the second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions initiative. This national mentorship program pairs eight emerging First Nations artists and designers with established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives, offering a unique opportunity to connect, share intergenerational knowledge, and foster artistic and professional growth.

This year, in response to the exhibition’s key themes of ancestral memory, re-storying, truth-telling and future-making, participating artists have created deeply personal, culturally significant and innovative works that engage with Indigenous futures and envision alternative realities. Spanning weaving, photography, sculpture, possum-skin cloak-making, moving image, sound and design, the eight new commissions explore non-linear notions of time, honour intergenerational knowledges, and convey embodied and relational understandings of place.

Photography: Lightbulb Studios, Nicole Reed, Alana Holmberg, Jamila Filippone, Phoebe Powell, Vanessa Vanderburgh, Cole Baxter

The first and only initiative of its kind in Australia, the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions pairs First Nations artists and designers with esteemed industry mentors, who support and guide the artists to create new and ambitious works.

Mentors from every state and territory are invited by the NGV to join the series, before nominating an emerging artist to guide through the conception, development and creation of a major work. The nominated artists represent a diverse range of artistic and creative disciplines, including weaving, photography, sculptural installation, possum-skin cloak making, design and moving image.

The aim of the commission series is to acknowledge and nurture the creative relationships between artists and their mentors around the country. The mentorship is structured to reflect and champion the storytelling and knowledge-sharing systems that exist within First Nations communities.

Following the exhibition, each artist's work will be represented in the NGV Collection,establishing an important legacy for future generations.

The Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions creates a major new platform for First Nations art and design in Australia. The unique mentorship format—the only one of its kind in Australia—offers a career-defining opportunity to emerging practitioners to create a new work under the guidance of a respected mentor.
Tony Ellwood AM, Director, National Gallery of Victoria