A WORK by Quandamooka woman Sonja Carmichael and her daughter Elise Jane Carmichael is featured in a major show under way at the Redland Art Gallery.
Legacy: Reflections on Mabo celebrates the man behind the game-changing Native Title Act, Eddie Koiki Mabo.
The show was co-curated by Eddie's daughter Gail Mabo, Dr Jonathan McBurnie and Kellie Williams, director of Townsville's Umbrella Studio and a former resident of Alexandra Hills.
It will be at the gallery beside the Redland City Council chambers at 95 Bloomfield Street, until October 27.
The exhibition brings together more than 20 works by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists in the spirit of reconciliation, 25 years after the historic achievement.
Each artist has responded to an aspect of Eddie Mabo that they were drawn to, whether it was his life, politics, activism, or legacy.
The works show reverence, compassion, anger, sadness and respect, celebrating a man who was a rebel and a dreamer.
Artists include Blak Douglas and Adam Geczy, Elisa Jane Carmichael and Sonja Carmichael, Toby Cedar, Dian Darmansjah, Katina Davidson, Shane Fitzgerald, Hayley Megan French, Marion Gaemers, Patricia Hoffie, David Jones, Ian Kaddy, Talitha Kennedy, Jo Lankester, Veronica Lulu and Kim Mahood, Ron McBurnie, Arone Meeks, Jim Paterson, Tommy Pau, Obery Sambo, Anneke Silver, Ken Thaiday Sr (grandfather of retired test rugby league player Sam Thaiday), and Judy Watson.
Eddie Koiki Mabo was a Meriam man from Mer Island in the Torres Straits. As a key plaintiff in a High Court land rights case, he changed the face of Australia.
Mabo challenged the legal system and politicians to fight for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait people to be recognised as traditional owners of their land.
Works from Legacy: Reflections on Mabo are on a state tour by Museums and Galleries Queensland.
The travelling exhibition is supported by the Visions regional touring program, a federal government program aiming to improve access to cultural material for all Australians, and by the Queensland government through Arts Queensland.
