Black Mist Burnt Country

Black Mist Burnt Country is a national touring exhibition commemorating the British atomic tests in Australia in the 1950s. The exhibition was developed by curator JD Mittmann at Burrinja Cultural Centre.
The project received support from the Australian Government through the Ministry for the Arts’ Visions of Australia touring program and with assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund Grant, supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria, a division of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Additional support was provided by Gordon Darling Foundation.

The exhibition revisits the events and its location through the artworks by Indigenous and non-Indigenous contemporary artists across the mediums of painting, print-making, sculpture, installation, photography and new media.

The exhibition explores the various perspectives and ways in which artists have approached the subject matter, either as contemporaries of the tests, as visitors to the ‘Maralinga’ lands or as traditional owners of the country.

The works in the exhibition collectively span a period of six decades, from the post-WW II period to the present day.

Artwork by the following artists are included: Albert Tucker, Reginald Rowed, Arthur Boyd AC OBE, Sidney Nolan OM AC, Weaver Hawkins, Jonathan Kumintjarra Brown, Yvonne Edwards, Maureen ‘Mima’ Smart AOM, Jeffrey Queama, Hilda Moodoo, Terence Edwards, Lance Atkinson, Ian Howard, Paul Ogier, Trevor Nickolls, Pam Debenham, Judy Watson, Rosemary Laing, Craig McDonald, Blak Douglas, Warren ‘Ebay’ Paul, Kate Shaw, Karen Standke, Jessie Boylan, Hugh Ramage, Linda Dement, Adam Norton, Kim Bowman, Susan Norrie, Mick Broderick, Belinda Mason, Luke Cornish, Toni Robertson and Kate Downhill.