The year 2020 marks the 250th Anniversary of Cook’s landing in Australia. Since he first came ashore in 1770, each decade up until today has given rise to definitive works of art by Aboriginal and white Australians that have shaped understandings of Aboriginal art, Aboriginal artists and the Aboriginal culture in which the art originates. This paper will attempt to chart this history via a comparative juxtaposition with Aboriginal and non-Indigenous depictions of Aboriginal people across the last 250 years. Various works will be looked at in detail, artists’ backgrounds unpacked and exhibition intentions explored.

About the speaker: Franchesca Cubillo is the Senior Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the National Gallery of Australia and has worked in the museum and art gallery sector for the last 30 years. She was employed in several state and national institutions throughout Australia, including the South Australia Museum, the National Museum of Australia, and the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and more recently the National Gallery of Australia. She is a Churchill Fellow, has a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors’ in Anthropology and is a PhD candidate with the Australian National University.

Cubillo has written extensively, presented lectures and keynote addresses (national & international forums) on subjects such as the repatriation of Australian Indigenous Ancestral Remains, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art and Culture, an Australian Indigenous Museology and Curatorship. Originating from Darwin, she is a Yanuwa, Larrakia, Bardi, and Wardaman woman from the ‘Top End’ region of Australia and is the Inaugural Chair of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation since 2010.

About the event: The annual Ruth and Vincent Megaw Lecture in Archaeology and Art was established in 2014 in honour of long-serving and esteemed academics Emeritus Professor Vincent Megaw and his late wife Dr M Ruth Megaw. Acknowledging their contributions to the University and their respective fields, the lecture is supported through the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science and Art Museum.

Time and date: 5.15pm (drinks and nibbles) for 6pm start, Thursday 30 May 2019

Location: Alere Function Centre, Flinders University, Level 1 Student Hub, Sturt Road, Bedford Park

To book, follow this link.