This August the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) returns to the city after a two year hiatus. But the fair is not the only First Nations cultural showcase the city hosts at this time of year. There is a palpable buzz in the streets, with art, music and culture in venues and open-air destinations all around the city – and the average temperature is 30 degrees. Leave southern winters behind – as the Darwin Festival (from 5 August) asserts with its tag line, there will be Hot August Nights. DAAF Foundation executive director Claire Summers says, “That week in Darwin you will experience the creme de la creme of Indigenous arts in the country.”
First Nations immersion begins with fashion. On Tuesday 2 August, the Country to Couture runway show presents contemporary storytelling and knowledge-sharing through design, focussing on collections from Indigenous artists and designers but also collaborations between Indigenous communities and established Australian labels. This fusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fine art with high end fashion ensures that you won’t (willingly) leave empty-handed.
The National Indigenous Fashion Awards (Wednesday evening, 3 August) come together to celebrate innovation, diversity and ethical practices in textiles and fashion design. Last year, the dynamic black and white patterns from Bima Wear, the Tiwi women’s textile design and manufacturing arm, were awarded a Special Recognition Award, marking a triumphant fifty years for this collective. Notable is Bima Wear’s ability to serve its community at the same time as nimbly negotiating rapid advancements in fashion and technology.
The 16th DAAF opens to VIPs and industry on 4 August, and welcomes the public from Friday 5 August to Sunday 7 August. It is a free event.
“There’s an overwhelming desire from artists and Art Centres right around the country to come back to Darwin,” says Summer. “But we also don’t want to lose the online audience we’ve been forming a relationship with for the last two years, so we are developing a hybrid event. There will be an opportunity to see the amazing things we are doing at the fair itself but there will also be a component of the fair that is online. It may even feature artists that aren’t available at the physical fair! So audiences are going to have to stay on their toes.”
More than 70 Art Centres are expected to attend the fair, with art reflecting the diversity of geography and cultural connections from across the continent.
The vibrant shimmer of Mimili Maku Arts, a founder of the APY Art Centre Collective, includes paintings by director Anita Pumani juxtaposed with the Tjulpu (birds) by the emerging Sheena Dodd. Together, they crystallise the rocky red dirt of this part of Aṉangu Country in the northernmost part of South Australia. Dramatically different is the work of Moa Arts, from the island of Moa in the Torres Strait. Prints by Fiona Mosby, Paula Savage and Solomon Booth have strong abstract qualities and imagery drawn from their special saltwater environment.
Australia’s premier Indigenous art awards are also central to the week, with the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAAs) opening with a community event on Saturday 6 August, alongside the Salon des Refusés. You only need to look to the 2021 iteration to get a sense of the rising stars that circulate in this dynamic arena.
The next night the National Indigenous Music Awards take place in Darwin’s amphitheatre in the Botanical Gardens. It is, according to Summers, “a stunning location. You take your picnic rug and sit on the hill, get some great food and listen to awesome music in a tropical environment.”
Like so many quintessentially Australian experiences, the advice is to book early. The ideal place to stay is the Darwin waterfront, part of the CBD and walking distance to the Darwin Convention Centre where DAAF, its art, performances and artist talks are held. In between, when the temperature peaks, walk out your front door and have a dip in the wave pool.
August is the time when Darwin comes to life, with contemporary manifestations of the world’s oldest continuous culture available in colour, sound and vibrancy. “Nothing draws interstate and international visitors to Darwin like our fair,” says Summers. There is ambience to write home about and sumptuous conditions for being outdoors. And keep one evening free for the Mindil Beach Market, to watch the sun drop below the horizon over Cullen Bay.
Featured image: Joshua Morris and Shadeene Evans wear the Boonkaj collection by Waringarri Aboriginal Arts for Country to Couture, 2021. Styled by Rhys Ripper. Photo: James Giles.