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20 Oct 2023 - 21 Jan 2024

Tarnanthi Festival

Tarnanthi celebrates the rich and continually evolving world of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. By harnessing the storytelling power of traditional and modern art forms, the festival offers a unique insight into Australia’s vibrant First Nations cultures.

Details

When

20 Oct 2023 - 21 Jan 2024

Event type

Art Fair, Dance, Exhibition, Film, Music, Special Event, Talks, Visual Arts, Workshops

Season

Spring

Contact

AGSA, North Terrace Adelaide
Tarnanthi@artgallery.sa.gov.au
FREE entry

A strikingly modern festival 60,000 years in the making, Tarnanthi showcases hundreds of works from Tasmania to the Torres Strait. Time-honoured tradition, critical commentary and subversive wit collide in a display highlighting the extraordinary breadth of Australia’s contemporary First Nations cultures.

Meaning “to rise, come forth, spring up or appear” in the Kaurna language of the Adelaide Plains, Tarnanthi celebrates the ongoing resilience, ingenuity and humour of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Australia’s most comprehensive survey of contemporary First Nations art spans a range of media, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, weaving, photography, film and multimedia installations.

From the neo-classical sandstone Art Gallery of South Australia to smaller regional partner galleries, the festival provides a unique prism through which to connect with Australia’s original cultures.

Running alongside the festival, the Tarnanthi Art Fair allows attendees to meet and buy works directly from artists, and has raised more than $4 million for artists and community-run arts centres around the country. An accompanying program includes musical performances, children’s art workshops and the always fascinating Panpapanpalya ideas forum.

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  • Tarnanthi continues to bring people together in a spirit of mutual respect, shared understanding and most of all, the pleasure of seeing such skilfully and thoughtfully made art.

    Katherine Arguile

    The Advertiser, 2019

  • Tarnanthi, launched in 2015, has become Australia’s most important biennial survey of Indigenous art. Along with the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, held each year in Darwin, Tarnanthi is essential viewing.

    John McDonald

    Sydney Morning Herald, 2021

  • This is Australian art at its best. Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art has morphed from a revolutionary art movement, to the realm of the unexpected. Experimentation rules in the innovation, energy and depth of the work shown. Tarnanthi, true to its philosophy, enables artists to challenge perceptions.

    Catherine Speck

    The Conversation, 2021

  • For six years Tarnanthi has given our First Nations artists opportunities to speak truths such as this but also to entertain and to educate audiences.

    Lady Shania Richards

  • As its profile grows, Tarnanthi is attracting international as well as local and interstate visitors.

    Rosemary Neil

    The Australian, 2019

  • A festival more than an exhibition, Tarnanthi maps diverse Indigenous art practice across the continent and blurs the lines between urban and remote, traditional and contemporary.

    Daniel Browning

    ABC Radio National, 2019

  • Since it began in 2015, the Art Gallery of South Australia's Tarnanthi has taken a prominent place in a growing calendar of Indigenous art events.

    Amos Aikman

    The Australian, 2019

The local guide

Found some downtime between all the events and excitement? Here are some tips on what to see and do in Adelaide and South Australia.

IN THE MORNING

The APY Gallery in Adelaide is a platform for emerging Indigenous artists from the APY Art Centre Collective to connect with a wide audience outside of their remote communities, gain professional development opportunities and build a network within the art industry supporting them to pursue successful careers in the arts.

IN THE AFTERNOON

With over 700 trails around the South Australia, whether you are looking for a short walk around one of the many green and cosy neighbourhoods or a longer bushwalk adventure through a national park, some of the best nature trails in Australia are at your fingertips.

IN THE EVENING

Experience the vibrancy and diversity of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through Tandanya’s exciting program of visual and performing arts, workshops, artist/curator talks, forums, cultural presentations and film screenings.