For First Nations people, art has been a vehicle to tell personal and universal stories for over 60,000 years. Ngarrindjeri artist Trevor Nickolls’ story is complex, exploring the history of dispossession and loss, and the hope and beauty of finding a way back to knowing. Breaking free of the assumptions and prejudices placed on First Nations artists by white society, his ground-breaking career inspired artists across the country to express their own identities. This week on Uncurated, Sean Ruse and Prealene Khera explore Nickolls’ life and legacy through his long-lost painting “Tightrope Walking”.

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Interviewees:

• Judith Ryan - former Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria
• Angelika Tyrone - Director and Owner of Australian & International Arts
• Tiriki Onus - Head of the Wilin Center for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne
• Richard Bell - Renowned Artist and Activist 

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Music and sound effects for this episode of Uncurated were sourced from freesound.org, freemusicarchive.org, Blue Dot Sessions and ABC News under relevant licensing agreements.

Dany Pkl by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).

Piano Tape Loop by Daniel Birch (https://freemusicarchive.org/home)

Trevor Nickolls’ interview with Emma Sleath on ABC (https://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2009/11/27/2754081.htm)