An abundance of Black Love in Boomalli’s 2025 Mardi Gras exhibition
26-02-2025
Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-operative celebrates the launch of their 2025 Mardi Gras exhibition Black Family – Aboriginal Love, an exhibition they describe as a “celebration of solidarity, healing, and joy”.
The exhibition marks a continuation of a legacy they have built since 1994, when Boomalli hosted their first Mardi Gras exhibition Lookin’ Good, the first LGBTQIA+/First Nations exhibition in the country. They have continued celebrating that intersection with a Mardi Gras exhibition each year since.
The exhibition’s opening event, held on Friday, was a vibrant reflection of the “Black Family love” central to the exhibition’s theme. ACHAA had the privilege of attending the event and witnessing firsthand the community that filled the room.
Black Family – Aboriginal Love is a love letter to community, a manifestation of the strength of both Black and queer communities. Artists were invited to create works inspired by those who make them feel supported, accepted, and loved.
Curated by Dunghutti/Gomeroi woman Nioka Lowe-Brennan, Black Family – Aboriginal Love is a living embodiment of how our youth keep the fire burning under the guidance of the powerful legacy of those who came before, a legacy that has been a cornerstone of the 37 years that Boomalli has been living, creating, and thriving.
A first-time curator with this exhibition, Nioka spoke at the exhibition’s opening expressing deep gratitude for the mentorship she received from Boomalli curator Kyra Kum-Sing as well as volunteer Senior Strategist Dr. Bronwyn Bancroft. Nioka acknowledged the special nature of this Black matriarchal practice, speaking of the honour it is to learn from powerful Black women. She describes her involvement with Boomalli as pivotal to her artistic and personal development. Of Kyra, Nioka says; “Her guidance has been invaluable, not just in curatorial practice but in being an artist and a queer woman”.
Kyra’s work, Multitudes of Love, was aptly chosen by Nioka as the hero image of the exhibition. Not only is this a testament to the mentor relationship the two have developed, but to the essence of the exhibition—a celebration of the love that exists in abundance within Black and queer communities. Kyra describes the work as an ode to the love that is “always around us in multitudes”; featuring hearts in the colours of the Aboriginal flag over a patchwork of colour.
Boomalli has a 37-year strong cultural legacy of supporting Aboriginal art, culture, stories, and artists, and their 2025 Mardi Gras exhibition is no exception. By nurturing voices of the next generation like Nioka, it ensures that these traditions of love, art, and community continue to thrive.
Congratulations to Nioka Lowe-Brennan and all featured artists.
The exhibition will continue until Saturday 12th April 2025 at Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery.
Black Family, Aboriginal Love – Curated By Nioka Lowe-Brennan
Featured artists: Jeffrey Samuels, Arone Meeks (dec.), Chenaya Bancroft-Davis, Jasmine Sarin, Nola Taylor, Kirilly Dawn, Graeme Walker, Rubyrose Bancroft, Peter Waples-Crowe, Luke Close, Nioka Lowe-Brennan, Jedda Frank Ross, Jai Walker, Jenny Fraser, Kyra Kum-Sing, Ella Noah Bancroft, Dennis Golding, Peta-Joy Williams, Jessica Johnson, Nebbi Boii, Hayley Pigram, Annie Monks and Jay Kulbardi.
Learn more about Boomalli here.
