National Indigenous Art Triennial | After the Rain.: National Gallery of Australia

'There are so many people in our community that inspire me. In my family we all have that drive to change things, to speak out and not accept the status quo. For each of us this can be done in our own way.'

Thea Anamara Perkins’s practice is equally grounded in lineage, memory and the continual assertion of presence. As she reflects: ‘There are so many people in our community that inspire me. In my family we all have that drive to change things, to speak out and not accept the status quo. For each of us this can be done in our own way.’

Her Triennial presentation, Still I Rise, invites audiences into a richly layered portrait of family, Country and intergenerational resilience. Drawn from personal and familial archives, Perkins’s paintings form a kind of ‘everywhen’ – a temporal space where past, present and future converge. Her work quietly refutes misrepresentation, insisting instead on strength, warmth and the sovereignty of lived experience.

The exhibition title echoes both Maya Angelou’s enduring poem and the words of Perkins’s grandfather, Charles Perkins: ‘We know we cannot live in the past but the past lives in us.’ It’s a sentiment that resonates deeply through her practice, which continues to grow in national prominence, with works now held in major collections including the National Portrait Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra.

'I’ve inherited from my family a lot of cultural knowledge, stories and history. I bring these stories into my contemporary art practice, telling them in my ways. I want to convey the stories that have been passed down and continue that on for future generations.'

For Dylan Mooney, art is an act of continuation: ‘I’ve inherited from my family a lot of cultural knowledge, stories and history. I bring these stories into my contemporary art practice, telling them in my ways. I want to convey the stories that have been passed down and continue that on for future generations.’

In Resilience in Bloom, Mooney’s installation unfurls as a radiant celebration of queer love among people of colour. Large-scale portraits, couples embraced, entwined and grounded in vibrant Country, transform the gallery walls into a field of colour, intimacy and pride. Droplets of water shimmer like jewels across the skin: sweat, tears, resilience. Personal and political become inseparable.

Legally blind, Mooney works primarily with digital tools, backlit screens enabling him to craft highly detailed images that later bloom across paper, canvas and even building façades. His portraits are shaped by community stories and current events, yet always carry a deep optimism. Still early in his career, Mooney’s work is already represented in major public collections, his unmistakable aesthetic reaching audiences from gallery spaces to the cover of Rolling Stone Australia.