Windows and Mirrors
Title: Windows and Mirrors
Author: Djon Mundine
Publisher: Art Ink
Shortlist: Indigenous Writing
Windows and Mirrors is the first publication to catalogue the immense and influential career of Bandjalung man and cultural leader Djon Mundine OAM. A collection of writings dating from 1999 to 2023, alongside archival images and exhibition documentation, this book is more than a monograph – it is a history that traces key figures, exhibitions and movements in the development of contemporary Aboriginal art.
Mundine is widely considered to be a foundational figure in the development, exhibition and understanding of contemporary Aboriginal art.
Though not exhaustive, Windows and Mirrors is expansive. Drawn from decades of curatorial and art practice, all essays featured were penned for publication in esteemed art journals or to accompany significant exhibitions in spaces ranging from Lismore Regional Gallery in New South Wales, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney to Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany. The exhibitions covered include the ground-breaking 2008 show Ngadhu, Ngulili, Ngeaninyagu at Campbelltown Arts Centre – the first comprehensive survey of Aboriginal artists from New South Wales – to a personal account of the making of The Aboriginal Memorial (1987), today regarded as one of Australia’s most important works of art.
Judges’ Report
Windows and Mirrors is an incisive, generous and deeply grounded work from one of Australia’s most influential cultural thinkers. Mundine weaves history, criticism, personal reflection and community memory into a lucid and compelling examination of art’s responsibilities. Across the work, Mundine reframes familiar narratives, urging readers to look again at Country, at institutions, at the stories we inherit and reproduce. This is a book that challenges, teaches and invites dialogue, offering a vital contribution to contemporary cultural discourse and the ongoing project of truth-telling.
Extract
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About the Author
Djon Mundine OAM
VPLA book photography by Shannyn Higgins
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government.
