High five for NIAF

2024 marks five years of ethical collecting with the National Indigenous Art Fair (NIAF) to return to the Rocks in Sydney. This June will see a wide range of presentations of art and craft works at the Overseas Passenger Terminal from Art Centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the country.

The fair, organised by the Sydney-based First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation, will open across two days, and will also include a program of cultural displays, interactive workshops, and dance performances. Not to be missed are communal weaving circles, the bushfood cooking demonstration and discussion, and music by Microwave Jenny and Stiff Gins.

Last year’s fair saw 22,000 attendees pass through, and this year is looking to be just as big.

“The National Indigenous Art Fair is an opportunity to meet the artist and hear the stories of this art directly from the maker with the knowledge that whatever the visitor spends will go directly back to these artists and their communities”, says Peter Cooley, First Hand Solutions CEO. “It is a rare opportunity to meet artists from some of the most remote parts of Australia and provides them an opportunity to promote and sell their artworks and host workshops demonstrating their unique arts and cultural practice”.

This year’s participating art centres include Waralungku Arts, Papunya Tjupi Arts, UMI Arts, Injalak Arts and Crafts, Munupi Arts and Crafts Association, APY Art Centre Collective, Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts, Ikuntji Artists, Walkatjara Art (Uluru), Cape York Art, Engawala Art Centre, Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association, Bula’Bula Arts, Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art, Durrmu Arts, Morwanjum Art Centre, Lockhart River Arts Centre, Keringe Arts, Oak Valley Arts, Minyma Kutjara Arts Project, Artists of Ampilatwatja, Numbulwar Numburindi Arts, and Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation, with more announcements to come.

NIAF will be held Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 June. For more information, visit their website here. The fair has also partnered with Mercure Sydney, who are offering visitors a 15% discount until 25 May, which can be found here.