The world took note, when Archie Moore’s installation, kith and kin, was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at La Biennale di Venezia 2024.
It was an incredible moment for Australian artists, in particular First Nations maker Archie Moore and curator Ellie Buttrose, to receive that global acknowledgment. And now that has been further cemented with this major acquisition.
Australian Government Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke, said it simply: ‘kith and kin is a great Australian story first exhibited in Venice, but now comes home.’
Read: Back to back Golden Lions for Australia
As the exhibition heads into its last months of presentation in Venice, the Australian Government has today (19 August) announced it has acquired the installation with the intention of gifting it, in a partnership arrangement, to the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, and its acquisition partner Tate, UK.
The idea of the dual acquisition is to ensure ‘its enduring legacy on the global stage,’ said the commissioner of the project, Creative Australia.
Another First Nations-led milestone
Queensland’s Minister for the Arts, Leeanne Enoch, said: ‘The recognition of Archie Moore’s work at this year’s Venice Biennale has highlighted the powerful stories and creative talent of First Nations artists in Australia, and the country’s leadership on the global contemporary art scene.
‘The Queensland Government is thrilled that kith and kin will be part of the state’s art collection, with its potent message of truth-telling also to be shared with wider audiences through the joint acquisition with the Tate.’
QAGOMA Director, Chris Saines CNZM, added: ‘We are profoundly grateful to be the joint custodians of this historic work,’ a feeling that Moore echoed, along with his gratitude for the acquisition.
Why the UK; why the Tate?
Creative Australia explained: ‘Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Tate’s connection with kith and kin is implied by the artwork itself following maternal First Nations (Kamilaroi/Bigambul) and paternal convict (British/Scottish) lines and along a complex terrain that defines and connects Australia and the United Kingdom as nations.
‘The gift of kith and kin to these public art museums ensures the act of First Nations truth-telling that kith and kin forcefully and poetically presents will remain on a global platform, continuing to increase international awareness of Australia’s first histories, languages and cultures, and foster action for the issues facing First Nations Australians.’
Tate Director, Maria Balshaw, said of the news: ‘Archie Moore’s kith and kin is both highly personal and political, and it offers a powerful meditation on humanity’s interconnections stretching back into deep time.
Read: What Archie Moore says about heading to Venice Biennale
‘Sharing this great work with QAGOMA also reflects the ever-stronger ties between Tate and our fellow art museums in Australia. I’m very grateful to Creative Australia and all our friends and colleagues in the region who have helped make these relationships blossom,’ said Balshaw.
Saines added: ‘Encountering Archie Moore’s kith and kin at the Venice Biennale was a spectacular and moving experience that resonated with the weight of history and ancestry. In its unimaginable endeavour to map a personal genealogy through more than 2000 generations … kith and kin has that rare power to still you into silence and reflection.
kith and kin will return from Venice to Brisbane, opening at QAGOMA from August 2025.
It continues to be exhibited within the Australian Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, until 24 November 2024.
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