Fifty years of the movement for Indigenous rights

‘Juno Gemes is a photographer with a lyrical eye, she turns up at all the important times and places enjoined in political activism, culture and art.’

— Tracey Moffatt

Join us for a compelling evening of discussion, reflection and music as we explore the history of First Nations peoples’ fight for self-determination.

Inspired by Until Justice Comes, the recent landmark publication of Juno Gemes’ photography, this event brings together leading voices from the worlds of activism, history and the arts. The speakers will highlight the resilience, resistance and achievements of First Nations peoples in their pursuit of justice and sovereignty.

Juno Gemes has known and worked with First Nations people over decades and generations. At the heart of this engagement has been the desire to uncover an often-invisible history of resistance and the fight for self-determination.

Gemes’ photographs include portraits of political and cultural leaders and intimate community events as well as activism played out on the streets. Until Justice Comes, her most significant book, includes photographs of critical moments in history: from the Redfern Revolution, land rights campaigns and the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, to preparations for the 2023 Referendum on the Voice to Parliament.

The speakers will critically engage with Juno Gemes’ practice as a photographer committed to activism and social change. They will discuss the role of art and photography in promoting the politics of change, and justice for First Nations people in Australia.

Nicholas Tsoutas (Chair) is an independent curator and critical writer. His distinguished professional career in contemporary art has spanned 40 years as an academic, curator and director in major institutions that include Adjunct Fellow, Zelda Stedman Lecturer in Visual Arts, and Director of the Galleries at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney; Artistic Director, Casula Powerhouse and Liverpool Regional Museum; Executive Director, Artspace Visual Arts Centre, Sydney; Director, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; and Executive Director, The Performance Space, Sydney.

Juno Gemes is a photographer and social justice activist. Born in Budapest, she moved to Australia with her family in 1949. She held her first solo exhibition, We Wait No More, in 1982. In the same year, she exhibited photographs in the group shows After the Tent Embassy and Apmira: Artists for Aboriginal Land Rights. In 2003 the National Portrait Gallery exhibited her portraits of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reconciliation activists and personalities, Proof: Portraits from the Movement 1978–2003, and has since acquired many of her photographs. Gemes was one of 10 photographers invited to document the National Apology in Canberra in 2008. The Macquarie University Art Gallery held a survey exhibition of her work, The Quiet Activist: Juno Gemes, in 2019.

Rhonda Davis is a senior curator at Macquarie University Gallery. She has curated numerous exhibitions and in 2003 co-curated with Andrew Sayers the major exhibition Proof: Portraits of the Movement 1978–2003 followed in 2019 by Juno Gemes: The Quiet Activist, a survey exhibition 1979–2019. In 2021 she published Margaret Preston in Berowra, the first study on that period of the artist’s life. Her research interests include Australian modernism and its influence on the decorative arts and interiors, along with the anthropology of art, and Australian contemporary art.

Emeritus Professor John Maynard is a Worimi Aboriginal man from the Port Stephens region of NSW. He has held major positions including Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the executive Committee of the Australian Historical Association. He is the author of 15 books including Aboriginal Stars of the Turf, Fight for Liberty and Freedom, The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe, Aborigines and the Sport of Kings, True Light and Shade, Living with the Locals and Socceroos: A World Cup Odyssey vols 1 & 2.

Djon Mundine OAM is a curator, critical writer and activist from the Bandjalung nation of the east coast of Australia. He is Aboriginal (Bandjalung) and Irish (County Cork) decent, and is connected with the Yolngu communities of Milingimbi, Maningrida and Ramingining of central Arnhem Land, having worked there for 16 years from the 1980s. He has held senior curatorial positions at state and national institutions, including the Art Gallery of NSW, Museum of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, National Museum of Australia, as well as internationally. He has collaborated with the National Gallery of Australia on major international exhibitions such as The World of Dreamings, at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg in Russia. He most recently wrote the catalogue essay for Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore, Australia’s representative for the 2024 Venice Biennale.

Performance by Jim Moginie, an Australian musician, a founding member of Midnight Oil, guitarist, keyboardist and leading songwriter. In addition to Midnight Oil, Moginie has performed with many musicians from Australia and New Zealand including Silverchair, Sarah Blasko, End of Fashion, Backsliders, Neil Murray, Kasey Chambers and Neil Finn. In 2020 Midnight Oil received the Sydney Peace Prize Gold Medal for Human Rights for their environmental activism, their humanity and drive to promote justice through their music. After Midnight Oil reformed in 2017 they made The Makaratta Project with collaborations with many Australian First Nations artists including Jessica Mauboy, Troy Cassar-Daly and Leah Flanagan. Monginie co-produced Tjungu (2019) by Neil Murray and Sammy Butcher (Warumpi Band), a suite of songs they co-wrote in the community of Papunya. Jim Moginie’s memoir, The Silver River, was released early 2024 through Harper Collins Australia.

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Image credit: Juno Gemes

Host or Publisher State Library of New South Wales