The Australian Government has acquired Archie Moore’s kith and kin. Commissioned by Creative Australia and curated by Ellie Buttrose, it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the La Biennale de Venezia 2024.
kith and kin is being acquired by the Australian Government to be gifted to the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane who, along with their acquisition partner Tate, in the UK, will see two of the world’s leading art museums ensure its enduring legacy on the global stage.
In kith and kin, Moore charts his First Nations Australian connections spanning more than 2,400 generations and 65,000 years in a vast hand-drawn genealogical chart. As a memorial it confronts how the ongoing legacies of Australia’s colonial history – with a focus on the overincarceration of First Nations peoples – sever familial connections. kith and kin represents the expansiveness of First Nations Australian history, whilst speaking to the universality of the human family.
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Tate’s connection with kith and kin is implied by the artwork itself following maternal First Nations (Kamilaroi/Bigambul) and paternal convict (British/Scottish) lines and along a complex terrain that defines and connects Australia and the United Kingdom as nations.
The gift of kith and kin to these public art museums ensures the act of First Nations truth-telling that kith and kin forcefully and poetically presents will remain on a global platform, continuing to increase international awareness of Australia’s first histories, languages and cultures and foster action for the issues facing First Nations Australians.
On the news of the gift and acquisition, Archie Moore said: “I am so grateful for this generous donation that enables kith and kin to be seen both here in Australia and overseas, in the near and distant future.”
Main Image:kith and kin 2024 Ink on polyester, water, composite board, paint, aluminium, steel, pigment and clay crayon, methyl acetate 499.8 x 1588 x 1498cm Artwork courtesy of the artist and The Commercial
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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