Echoes Unveiled: Art by First Nations Women from Australia

24 June [Tue] - 21 September [Sun], 2025

Art by First Nations artists from Australia is being given more importance and exposure than before as part of the recent international trend in contemporary art to reconsider works created in deeply rooted regional contexts. At the 60th Venice Biennale, in 2024, the Australian Pavilion presented a solo exhibition by an Aboriginal artist and was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, an achievement that indicates the height of global evaluation and interest. Moreover, within the Australian contemporary art world, many women artists with First Nations backgrounds are becoming renowned and have established international acclaim. In 2006, we held Prism: Contemporary Australian Art and have been continuing to collect in that field ever since.
Echoes Unveiled: Art by First Nations Women from Australia is the first group exhibition in Japan to focus on First Nations women artists from Australia. The groups of works on display are by seven individual artists and one collective, and include four artists with works in the Ishibashi Foundation Collection. It explores the enduring presence of traditional culture in Aboriginal art and examines how these artists practice decolonization in today’s Australian society, and how this process intersects with creativity, shaping the complex and multifaceted expression in contemporary First Nations Australian art.

Artists
Maree CLARKE, Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally GABORI, Julie GOUGH, Emily Kame KNGWARREYE, Noŋgirrŋa MARAWILI (Nonggirnga MARAWILI), Yhonnie SCARCE, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Judy WATSON

Exhibition overview

Exhibition title: Echoes Unveiled: Art by First Nations Women from Australia

Exhibition period: 24 June [Tue] - 21 September [Sun], 2025

Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays) *Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Closed: Mondays (except July 21, August 11, September 15), July 22, August 12, September 16

Organizer: Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Official Support: Australian Embassy Tokyo

Venue: 6, 5F Galleries

Concurrent Exhibition: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection Highlights (4F Gallery)

Ticket prices (incl. tax)

	On-line ticket	In-Person ticket (purchase at museum)
General	1,800 yen	2,000 yen
University college high school students	Free entry　Advance booking required Please present their student ID upon entry.
Disabled visitors (plus one accompanying assistant)	Free entry　Advance booking not required Please present disabled person’s handbook upon entry.
Children through junior high school	Free entry　Advance booking not required

*Online tickets must be purchased up to 10 minutes before the end of each time slot.
*Booking is not accepted when a time slot is full.
*In-Person ticket may be purchased at the museum, if the time slot is not full.
*This admission fee gives the visitor access to the concurrent exhibitions.

Related programs

Gallery Talks by Artists

27 June [Fri], 2025	1. Maree Clarke, Julie Gough [Schedule] June 27 [Fri.] 15:30–16:30 [Venue] Artizon Museum 5F Gallery
27 June [Fri], 2025	2. Yhonnie Scarce, Judy Watson [Schedule] June 27 [Fri.] 18:30–19:30 [Venue] Artizon Museum 6F Gallery

* A museum admission ticket is required. (No additional charge or reservation is needed
for the gallery talks.) Please gather at the respective gallery lobby.
* The locations are subject to change, and a talk may be cancelled.
* Both with consecutive interpretation.

Art works

Maree CLARKE, Walert – gurn barerarerungar: Tipperary, Ireland Dunstable, Britain Yorta Yorta Trawlwoolway Boonwurrung, Mutti Mutti, Wamba Wamba, 2020-21, National Gallery of Victoria © Maree Clarke

Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally GABORI, My Grandfather's Country, 2011, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation　©︎ Copyright Agency, Sydney & JASPAR, Tokyo, 2025 C4919

Julie GOUGH, Some Tasmanian Aboriginal children living with non-Aboriginal people before 1840, 2008, found wooden chair with burnt tea tree sticks, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra © Julie Gough

Emily Kame KNGWARREYE, Spring Landscape, 1993, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation ©︎ Copyright Agency, Sydney & JASPAR, Tokyo, 2025 C4919

Noŋgirrŋa MARAWILI (Nonggirnga MARAWILI), Bolngu, 2016, Natural ochres on bark, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation © the artist ℅ Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre

Yhonnie SCARCE, Hollowing Earth, 2017, Hand-blown uranium glass, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation © Courtesy the Artist and THIS IS NO FANTASY

Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Tangki – Donkey, 2021, Video, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, NPY Women’s Council © Tjanpi Desert Weavers, NPY Women’s Council

Judy WATSON, gulf of memory, 2023, natural indigo, graphite, chinagraph pencil, synthetic polymer paint on linen, Courtesy the Artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Meeanjin, Australia © Courtesy the Artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Meeanjin, Australia. Photography by Carl Warner.

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