It’s Jacaranda season in Brisbane, the time of year that splashes of fluorescent lavender coloured blooms dot the landscape and end with an eye-catching display of purple rain. Even though the flowering season is only a couple of months, the Gallery’s painting Under the jacaranda 1903 by R. (Richard) Godfrey Rivers (1858-1925) is always in full…
Continue reading » “What’s under the Jacaranda: Hidden in the X–rays”
Do you look forward to that time of year when you can walk under a jacaranda tree in full bloom — the gorgeous carpet of fallen purple blossoms caressing your feet, then looking down, the intense purple colour suddenly turns your world upside down — the grass has now become the sky! This is the…
Continue reading » “What’s under the Jacaranda: Delve into the colour purple”
After becoming fascinated by the legend of the Brisbane-made Spencer motorcycles, Cath Charlton began delving into the myths and facts about this important Brisbane story. David Spencer (1870-1958) crafted a distinctly Australian racing bike by hand from locally cast parts in the first decade of the twentieth century. It is believed that the Spencer Motorcycles…
Continue reading » “Brisbane-born: The Spencer motorcycle story”
Though Australia’s link with the land is strong, and the ways in which we’ve used it have largely determined the Australian character, our interaction with the land is often contested. Here, we gain insights into works that respond to mining in Queensland. Mining in Queensland For Indigenous Australians, the land is everything. Through their care,…
William Yang’s work, intimate and considered, draws on the artist’s own lived experience. Yang’s personal stories inform his spoken-word performances and photography, and he often scribes these stories directly onto his photographic prints. Drawn to people, Yang’s work reveals unsettling narratives in his own life, in the lives of his subjects, and in society. Adept…
Continue reading » “William Yang’s work reveals unsettling narratives in his own life”
In 1988, the year of Australia’s bicentenary, the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was officially gazetted as Australia’s national floral emblem, enjoying a popular acceptance as the national flower long before then. We’ve been celebrating the Wattle for different reasons over the last century, and in 2020 for the first time, Brisbane is lighting up in…
Continue reading » “National Wattle Day: A celebration of a floral emblem”
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.