2000 - 2004
Gelem Nguzu Kazi–Dugong My Son
Exhibition of Prints by Mualgau Mineral Artist Collective
Having met Torres Strait Islander artists through Anna Eglitis at the Tropical Far North Queensland College of TAFE in Cairns during the 1990s and discussed their desires with them during the Second National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Conference in Cairns in 1999, Adrian Newstead was commissioned to write the first 5-year management and development plan for their nascent art centre. The first tangible result was a body of prints that comprised the exhibition Gelem Nguzu Kazi–Dugong My Son, created by the artists of the Mualgau Mineral Artist Collective. The exhibition toured Australia and the USA between 2000 and 2004.
The group was led by Badu Islander Dennis Nona, who was widely acknowledged has having ‘set the standard for the development of the new contemporary Torres Strait Islander art movement’1, Billy Missifrom Mabuiag, David Bosun from Mua and Victor Motlop from Thursday Island
The exhibition was curated by Adrian Newstead for the Australian Art Print Network and was accompanied by a 64-page fully illustrated colour catalogue.
The exhibition features intricate linocut prints that, for the first time, depict the traditional creation stories of Moa Island in a visual format.
Gelam Ngzu Kazi is the name the elders have given this exhibition where 'Gelam' represents the Dugong, the primary totem of the Moa Island community.
1Roger Butler, Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Australia.