THE National Portrait Gallery this week launches an online exhibition of Shirley Purdie’s self-portrait “Ngalim-Ngalimbooroo Ngagenyb” to coincide with Reconciliation Week. A 36-panel work that pays homage to the women in Purdie’s family within the Warmun community in WA’s East Kimberley, its title means “from my women” and it occupies an entire gallery wall in the NPG’s main entrance gallery. It is now also available online at portrait.gov.au and is accompanied by a video of Shirley talking about her life. 

FEDERAL Arts Minister, Paul Fletcher has announced that Australia’s national collecting institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Library of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive, will be able to re-open to the public starting on May 30, under strict guidelines to protect the public and those who work in the buildings. “The reopening of the nation’s premier cultural institutions is an important step in the re-emergence of Australia’s cultural and creative economy,” Minister Fletcher said.

IN this week’s silly final episode of the Coronavlog, Jan van de Stool (comedian Queenie van de Zandt) auditions not one, not two, but 19 of her celebrity clients to see which artist might be the right choice to take the “head of morale” baton and lead us out of lockdown into the post-COVID world. Watch at vimeo.com

QUEANBEYAN-Palerang Regional Council is planning for the reopening of its customer centres, libraries and Animal Management Facility from Monday, June 1, with COVID-safe plans for customer centres and libraries. The Queanbeyan customer centre will be relocated to the foyer of The Q, the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, but check at qprc.nsw.gov.au/COVID-19-Coronavirus for up-to-date information.