Djon Mundine was born on 1951 and is an Aboriginal Australian artist, curator, activist and writer.
29 Facts About Djon Mundine
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Djon Mundine is a member of the Bundjalung people of northern New South Wales.
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Djon Mundine is known for having conceived the 1988 work Aboriginal Memorial, on display at the National Gallery of Art in Canberra.
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Djon Mundine was born 6th of 11 children to Roy Mundine and Olive Bridgette Mundine.
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Djon Mundine is a Wehbal man from the West Bundjalung nation, from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.
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Djon Mundine was exposed to the traditions of Aboriginal art and technique from a young age.
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Djon Mundine went to the Marist Brothers College then called Benedict College, and went on to commence study at Macquarie University.
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From 1979 to 1995, Djon Mundine lived and worked in remote Aboriginal communities including Ramingining, Milingimbi, and Maningrida, where he served as an art adviser.
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Djon Mundine has described this period as formative, likening it to a spiritual pilgrimage that shaped his curatorial vision.
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Djon Mundine is particularly well-known for his work as the concept artist and producer of the Aboriginal Memorial.
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Djon Mundine honoured the intricate kinship system of Aboriginal culture by using pieces that not only depicted objects in nature, but represented the histories and social structures of Aboriginal Australia.
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In 2008, Djon Mundine created an exhibition called Etched in the Sun.
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In 2017, Djon Mundine curated Four Women: Double at the Lismore Regional Gallery.
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Djon Mundine brought together a range of contemporary artists including Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Romaine Moreton, and Wart to explore themes of resilience, cultural belonging, and political resistance.
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In 2020 Djon Mundine won the Australia Council's Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement.
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Djon Mundine has been working on the Dingo Project, an exhibition he curated for Ngununggula, which looks into the spiritual mythology and the history of the ancestral dingoes.
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Djon Mundine has been working on Ngununggula's second Entry Pavilion Commission.
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Djon Mundine has always been dedicated to his culture and community, and joined the Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists as one of its founding members in 1987.
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Djon Mundine has held curatorial posts at several institutions, including the Art Gallery of NSW, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.
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Djon Mundine is known in the Aboriginal community for his work and beliefs.
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Djon Mundine often uses his pieces of writing as a means to look deeper into art, past its mediums and origins.
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In 2001, Djon Mundine co-authored "Passion, Rich Collectors and the Export Dollar: The Selling of Aboriginal Art Overseas" with Felicity Wright.
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Between 2005 and 2006 Djon Mundine was a research professor at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan.
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In 2012, Djon Mundine curated Bungaree: The First Australian at Mosman Art Gallery, featuring 15 Indigenous artists exploring the legacy and myth of Bungaree, an Aboriginal man who circumnavigated Australia with Matthew Flinders.
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In October 2023, ahead of the 2023 Australian referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Djon Mundine spoke in support of the Yes vote on SBS Television discussion programme Insight.
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Djon Mundine had not discussed this opinion with his brother Nyunggai Warren Mundine, who is one of the leaders of the No campaign.
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Djon Mundine connected this imagery to the ongoing cycle of life and death and the spiritual continuity between the living and the ancestors.
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Djon Mundine has written about Riley's ability to blend personal history, spirituality, and political insight through both photography and film.
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Djon Mundine highlighted works like Sacrifice and Cloud, noting their significance in expressing internal spiritual struggle and broader Indigenous experience.