UVA graduate student Cassie Davies received a flash grant from the Trust in February 2020 to create a short film documenting Aboriginal art on Grounds. The film explores two exhibitions of Aboriginal art, “The Inside World: Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Memorial Poles” at The Fralin Museum of Art and “Munguyhmunguyh: Forever” in the University of Virginia Rotunda. Viewers learn how UVA students were impacted by these exhibitions and follow artists Gabriel Maralngurra and Joe Guymala of Injalak Arts as they visited UVA to share their art and culture.
“It was amazing to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Kluge-Ruhe’s and the Fralin’s preparations for these two exhibitions,” shares Cassie. “I felt especially lucky to have the opportunity to interview Gabriel Maralngurra and Joe Guymala, and to document some of their time here in Charlottesville — it was so nice to think of them watching my documentary back home in Australia. I’m also glad that this video will allow people to see the exhibitions despite the pandemic, because so much hard work and creativity went into them. Many thanks to the Jefferson Trust for making this project possible!”
Watch the video here and visit kluge-ruhe.org to learn more about the only museum in the US dedicated to Indigenous Australian art.