rrala manta manta

Achingly beautiful.
Not managed, not contrived, not censored.

These are words used by Frank Panucci at the opening of rrala manta manta to describe the works on display by a host Tasmanian Aboriginal artists.

And it is so true.

Leonie Dickson’s kelp satchel combines a sophisticated merging of the ancient artistic skills with contemporary context. The cascading curtain of dried kelp by Vicki West has the ethereal effect of making the viewer feel like they are walking through the gnarled stalks of the kelp forest transported from underwater to land.

Len Maynard’s In loving memory is a beautiful object filled with the dark sorrow of the brutal past, contrasted by Leonie Dickson and Verna Nichol’s gloriously hopeful Nations United.

This exhibition deserves it’s place as a key feature of this festival for its artistic excellence, and its importance in highlighting the transit of generations of artists.

Rrala manta mnata is on at the Design Centre.