Fifty years of the Western Desert art movement, Leigh Bowery, Mari Katayama and Darwin street art

Mari Katayama is exhibiting at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum as part of Reversible Destiny, a joint Japan-Australia show. She joins us down the line, with curator Natalie King.

Fifty years ago, a group of senior men from the Central Australian community of Papunya transferred the iconography of the Western Desert from sand and rock onto Masonite boards… and we’re still feeling, and seeing, the impact. University of Sydney’s Stephen Gilchrist and Hetti Perkins  join Daniel to discuss the anniversary of the Papunya Tula artists and the Western Desert art movement, the ‘last great art movement of the 20^th Century,’ according to critic Robert Hughes.

My thing is… Leigh Bowery. The Australian performance artist who took his subversive underground art to the glittering 80s club scenes of London and New York continues to influence artists. For performer Lord Severus, the recent queer spectacular Bowerytopia in Brisbane, was the ultimate tribute.

Mari Katayama is exhibiting at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum as part of Reversible Destiny, a joint Japan-Australia show. She joins us down the line, with curator Natalie King.

Darwin’s blank apartment walls and car parks have once again become home to multistorey artworks at the annual Darwin Street Art Festival. What was an effort to revitalise a city in economic decline has since become an expression of multicultural identity. We meet up with artists Kaff-ein and Mim Cole.