The National 4: Australian Art Now features exhibitions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C), Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia). The National’s five curators: Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley, Freja Carmichael, Jane Devery, Beatrice Gralton and Emily Rolfe offer a selection of works in line with the webpage’s description, displaying “artists across Country, generations and communities.”
However admirable, there is something presumptuous about the term “the national.” No survey can do justice to the art of a particular country or have enough foreknowledge to encapsulate the elusive “now.” And surprisingly, only a few of the chosen works explore Australian nationalism head-on.
That is not and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, the selection of works seem to both affirm and challenge this possibility.
