Works offer indigenous insight

A collection of Rod Moss’ life-like paintings has been officially opened at Mitchelton’s Gallery of Aboriginal Art.The Australian painter has spent more than 30 years in Alice Springs constructing his thought-provoking pieces after he was drawn to the Northern Territory in the 1980s.‘‘My 35 years in Alice Springs have been directly involved with the First Peoples of Alice Springs; that was the reason I went to the Northern Territory,’’ he said.  ‘‘My curiosity with ... indifference and a disposition towards the humiliated and disempowered has fired my art,’’ his personal statement on his website reads.His pieces are incredibly literal to read and are realistic in appearance.‘‘From the outset I chose a type of realism based on photography, believing Aboriginal lives are lived too raw, too close to the knuckle of oppression for abstract interpretation,’’ Mr Moss said.‘‘Colonisation has wrought its bitterness; stolen children; stolen land, deaths in custody, and the denial of basic life necessities.’’On his website, Mr Moss said he was raised in Victoria, 30km from Melbourne in the Dandenong foothills.‘‘Having concluded my tertiary training and considering myself a city sophisticate, at 20 years of age I was dispatched to teach in the remote Mallee town of Ouyen, just south of Mildura,’’ he said.‘‘This was my first taste of genuine separation from a city centre, from friends and family, and an induction to the peculiarly seductive powers of our vast arid interior and for me a pre-season run.’’Mr Moss said he took the opportunity to get out of Melbourne by looking up an old high school friend who had been working in indigenous communities, after quitting the Melbourne Museum in the early 1970s.‘‘Visiting him at Strelley, in the Pilbara, where he worked in the school’s small bi-lingual book production, was another eye-opener,’’ Mr Moss said.He credits a meeting with New York-based art critic Peter Schjeldahl for encouraging him to pursue his thoughts on indigenous Australians in paint.Mr Moss said the works on display at Mitchelton ranged from 1986 to the present day and he was highly complimentary of gallery curator Adam Knight, with whom he has shared a long relationship.‘‘I told Adam ... what he’s put on the walls has covered that period from 1986 to now and it’s the best it’s ever looked,’’ Mr Moss said.He said Mr Knight had visited him during the past 15 or so years in Alice Springs to purchase his works, building on the collection that opened at the gallery on April 6.The pair not only shares a passion for Mr Moss’ work, but also has another unique connection.‘‘I kind of met my partner through him,’’ Mr Moss said.‘‘He kept telling me about this woman,’’ he said, and went on to detail how he eventually met up with her.The works are coupled with Mr Knight’s entire collection of various Aboriginal artworks in the cellar at Mitchelton.The gallery sits on Taungurung country and was established by Mr Knight and Gerry Ryan, who share a passion for indigenous Australian art.According to its website, the gallery was created to provide an inspiring new space for locals and visitors to experience the artworks of Australia’s First Peoples.Works on display at the gallery are representative of more than 15 different art centres and communities throughout Australia, including the local Taungurung Clan.‘‘It’s a magnificent space,’’ Mr Moss said.‘‘You really descend down in there.’’The opening also featured the launch of two of Mr Moss’ books – Crossing the Great Divide; An Artists Memoir and Blue Moon Bay; a Graphic Novella.‘‘The book launch ... was the cream of the cake of the show,’’ Mr Moss said.Crossing the Great Divide is the third memoir written by Mr Moss and follows the nurturing of the curiosity and openness that has fastened him to the luminous power of Central Australia and its First Peoples.He takes the reader through his formative years in 1950s and 1960s Victoria, and through young adulthood in the 1970s.Some copies of the books are available at the gallery.The exhibition will run until May 6 at the Gallery of Aboriginal Art, 470 Mitchellstown Rd, Nagambie which is open 10am to 4pm on weekends or via appointment.