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.
Authors & Contributors
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.
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
