Michael Riley: Sights Unseen

by Brenda L. Croft

Overview

Michael Riley (1960-2004) was one of the most important contemporary Australian Indigenous visual artists of the past two decades. His contribution to the urban-based Indigenous visual arts industry was substantial and his film and video work challenged non-Indigenous perceptions of Indigenous experience, particularly among the most disenfranchised communities in the eastern region of Australia. He worked with Indigenous people from communities throughout rural and remote regions of Australia and brought a singularly Indigenous visual language to the forefront of international contemporary art.

Riley's work is not social-documentary but draws on a multiplicity of influences—European and North American film-making, international fashion and design, and Indigenous and European spirituality and its contradictions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780642541628
Publisher:	National Gallery of Australia
Publication date:	05/02/2007
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brenda L. Croft, senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Austraila, Canberra, is a member of the Gurindji and Mutpurra peoples from the Northern Territory. Other contributors include Anthony "Ace" Bourke, Gael Newton, Victoria Lynn, Djon Mundine, Nikos Papastergiadis, and Hetti Perkins.

Table of Contents

Foreword / Ron Radford

Introduction / Linda Burney

Up in the sky, behind the clouds / Brenda L. Croft

The elders: Indigenous photography in Australia / Gael Newton

In retrospect / Anthony 'Ace' Bourke

The meek Michael Riley / Nikos Papastergiadis

Shapshots - Dubbo

Snapshots - Moree

Snapshots - Sydney and Melbourne

Frame-by-Frame - Film

Imagination: The moving image in the work of Michael Riley / Victoria Lynn

Cloud

Wungguli - Shadow: Photographing the spirit and Michael Riley / Djon Mundine

I wanted to tell stories / Michael Riley

After image / Ben Riley

Exhibition checklist

Chronology

Glossary

Map

Select bibliography

Contributors

Acknowledgments

Index