WORKS of art by more than 160 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists have travelled from the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, where they will be on display until October 29.

Drawn from the collections of the National Gallery and The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, “Ever Present: First People’s Art of Australia” has already travelled to the Art Gallery of Western Australia and National Gallery Singapore as part of the tour, and is believed to be the largest survey of First Nations art from Australia to have been exhibited in Aotearoa.

The exhibition, curated by the NGA’s Tina Baum, features  some of the country’s most influential artists, from Albert Namatjira and Emily Kam Kngwarray, but it does not shy away from Australia’s history and challenges stereotypes about First Nations people and what defines their art.

For the South Pacific audience, “Ever Present” also highlights connections and contrasts of the colonial histories between Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand.

“To fully understand the richness, diversity and depth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture would take many generations and many lifetimes – but to appreciate it only takes a moment,” Baum says.