BAMM presents a selection of works from the BAMM Collection of Tracey Moffatt’s Up in the Sky series and Michael Riley’s A Common Place: Portraits of Moree Murries

As a leader in contemporary Aboriginal photography, Riley’s A Common Place: Portraits of Moree Murries series captures the social history of key Indigenous families in Moree and his mother’s Gamilaroi family.  

Moffat’s works include a selection of six photographs from her non-linear narrative series Up in the Sky.

Tracey Moffatt and Michael Riley have been among Australia’s most significant Aboriginal photographers for the past 30 years. Both are represented in BAMM’s permanent collection.

Riley was born in Dubbo and periodically lived in Moree. He was renowned for photographing Kamilaroi people and he achieved fame for his adventurous and insightful approach to contemporary art. Following his untimely death in 2004, at the age of 44, his work achieved fame in Europe with an important exhibition in 2006 at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.

One of Riley’s most important projects was his Kamilaroi portrait series. He donated the 15 photographs in the series to BAMM in 1991. These were later included in the National Gallery of Australia’s 2006 exhibition Michael Riley: Sights Unseen and were then shown in Half Light Portraits from Black Australia, compiled in 2007 by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Tracey Moffatt knew Michael Riley and exhibited with him. She has been similarly concerned about the plight of First Nations people; however, in an urban context. The works on display come from her major series Up in the Sky. These profound images were presented to the Gallery by Dr Ann Lewis, AO, as part of her generous gift that also included 70 paintings and prints by contemporary Indigenous artists from across Australia.

BAMM acknowledges the Gamilaroi people, the Traditional  Custodians of the Kamilaroi land, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.