Life, Death and Magic: Indonesian Ancestral Art in Australia

The National Gallery of Australia yesterday opened the exhibition Life, Death and Magic: 2000 Years of Southeast Asian Ancestral Art which will be on display in Canberra from today until 31 October 2010. The exhibition includes valuable displays of Indonesian ancestral art on loan from the Museum Nasional Indonesia.

The National Gallery of Australia invited Ms Hari Budiarti, Head of Historical Collections and Mr Trigangga, Head of Registration and Documentation from the Museum Nasional Indonesia to accompany the Indonesian works of art to Australia and give presentations on the Indonesian displays during their visit.

"This is not the first time Museum Nasional Indonesia has worked together with the National Gallery of Australia and this close cooperation at a cultural level is one of the practical ways in which Australia and Indonesia are working together as close neighbours,” said Ms Retno Sulistianingsih, Director of Museum Nasional Indonesia.

This is the first major exhibition of ancestral art from Southeast Asia to be held in Australia and, in addition to work from Indonesia, features displays from communities in the Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China.

The National Gallery of Australia is renowned for its collection of Southeast Asian textiles and has acquired new animist sculptures from the region particularly for this exhibition. The exhibition reveals powerful art work expressing the region’s most ancient and enduring spiritual beliefs and social organisation including rituals of life and death. The art created from fibre, stone, metal, wood and clay include monumental ancestral figures and fertility gods, demonic masks, elaborate gold ornaments and a huge sarcophagus (funeral receptacle).

Further information on the exhibition is available from the National Gallery of Australia website: http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/LIFEDEATHMAGIC/

Media Enquiries:
Sanchi Davis (Cultural Attache) tel. (021) 2550 5260 hp. 0811 936 302