Michael Aird | FireWorks Gallery

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Bio & CV

Michael Aird has worked as a photographer within the area of Aboriginal arts and cultural heritage since 1985, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Queensland. He has curated over 25 exhibitions, published several academic articles and has been involved in numerous research projects. In 1996 he established Keeaira Press an independent publishing house and has produced over 30 books. Much of what Keeaira Press has published focus on art and photography, which reflects Michael’s interest in recording aspects of urban Aboriginal history and culture.

Courtesy of the Artist 2015

Story/Statement

Everybody is Important

Photographs by Michael Aird

For more than 30 years I have been working in the area of Aboriginal arts and history. Photography has played an important role in the work that I have done and as result I have accumulated an extensive archive of images. Many of the photographs I have taken are of Aboriginal people in situations that not only reflect their achievements but more importantly they simply document mundane aspects life.

The Everybody is Important Series were first included in an exhibition in response to the Australian Government’s 2007 ‘Intervention’ into Aboriginal societies in northern and central Australia, and the associated demonisation of Aboriginal men as criminals, alcoholics and violent pedophiles. In response to the ‘Intervention’ Djon Mundine curated an exhibition titled Cold Eels and Distant Thoughts, this exhibition presented images of Aboriginal men captured by Aboriginal male photographers.

In the 2015 Up Close exhibition I have expanded upon the original Everybody is Important Series and included women and some photos of non-Aboriginal people. The main focus in these images are of people from Queensland, but there a few exceptions with a few people from interstate and overseas also being included.

My photographs are often in contrast to the images portrayed by the mainstream media, such as images of Aborigines as victims in hopeless situations. These photographs demonstrate just some of the people that I have known over my life. Everybody has a story worth telling and I have selected people who I think are important and who have stories that are equally as important as the stories from the select few ‘elders’ and ‘leaders’ that are favoured by the government and the mainstream media.

Courtesy of Michael Aird 2015

MICHAEL AIRD

Born: 1963, Southport, QLD.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology) University of Queensland

EXHIBITIONS - SOLO

2011 Woogoompah: My Country-Swamp Country, Gold Coast Art Gallery

EXHIBITIONS - GROUP

2015-2016 Resolution: New Indigenous Photomedia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (touring show)

2015 Up Close with Juno Gemes, Michael Aird and Jo-Anne Driessens, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

2014 Up Close: Juno Gemes and Michael Aird, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

2013 I Still Call Australia Home, Gallery of Modern Art, South Brisbane

2013 Swamp Country, Kick Off: Contemporary Video Art Program, Metricon Stadium, Carrara

2011 Cold Eels and Distant Thoughts, University Gallery, University of Newcastle, (travelled to Monash Gallery of Art, 2012)

2010 Interventions: Experiments between Art and Ethnography, Macquarie University Art Gallery

2008 More Than My Skin, Campbelltown Art Gallery, Campbelltown, (travelled to Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine in 2009 and Lismore in 2010)

1990 Balance 1990, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

EXHIBITIONS - CURATED

2015 This is my heritage, Queensland Museum

2015 Wild Australia: Meston’s Wild Australia 1892-1893, University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

2014 Captured: Early Brisbane photographers and their Aboriginal subjects, Museum of Brisbane

2013 Object of The Story-Reflections on Place, at the Northern Rivers Regional Gallery, Ballina

2013 Growing Up Catholic, North Stradbroke Island Historical Museum

2012 Transforming Tindale, State Library of Queensland

2012 The Longest Wave, The Bleach Festival, Kirra Hill Community Gallery

2011 Their Story With Our Story, Mercy Heritage Centre, Brisbane

2008 History of Entertainment and Broadcasting in Cherbourg, Cherbourg

2007 Dormitory Exhibition, Ration Shed Museum, Cherbourg

2006 Gunngah Binnung, Tweed Shire Council

2006 Little Stir, Fuss or Parade: History of Bakers Creek Reserve, Mackay Artspace

2005 Brisbane Blacks Photographic Exhibition, Dreaming Festival, Woodford

2000 Aboriginal Gallery, Museum of Tropical Queensland, Townsville

1999 Old Man Fog: Painting by Tulo Gordon, Queensland Museum

1998 Wearing Culture; Images and Objects from an Artists Meeting, Queensland Museum

1997 Branching Out, Queensland Museum,

1995 Historical photographic exhibition, Couran Cove, South Stradbroke Island

1994 Indigenous Workers Exhibition, Workers Heritage Centre, Barcaldine

1991 Portraits of Our Elders, Queensland Museum

1990 Permanent photo exhibition, Royal Pines International Resort, Gold Coast

PUBLICATIONS

2015, My Story: South Stradbroke Island Artist Camp 2015, City of Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise

2015, This is my heritage, Queensland Museum, South Brisbane

2015, Wild Australia: Meston’s Wild Australia 1892-1893, University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, St Lucia

2014, Aboriginal People and Four Early Brisbane Photographers, in Calling The Shots, edited by Jane Lydon. Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra

2013, Object of The Story: Reflections on Place, Keeaira Press, Southport

2003, Growing Up With Aborigines, in Photography’s Other Histories, edited by Christopher Pinney & Nicolas Peterson, Duke University press, Durham, USA

2002, Developments in the repatriation of human remains and other cultural items in Queensland, Australia. In The Dead and Their Possessions, Edited by Cressida Fforde, Jane Hubert & Paul Turnbull. Routledge

2001, Brisbane Blacks, Keeaira Press, Southport

1996, I Know a Few Words: Talking About Aboriginal Languages. Keeaira Press, Southport

1992, Portraits of Our Elders, Queensland Museum, Brisbane

1992, Traditional Lifestyles and Recent History of South East Queensland Aborigines: A literature review, a report for Ngutana-Lui: The Aboriginal & Islander Cultural Studies Centre, Catholic Education Office, Brisbane, May 1992

1991, Dying Death, and the Mourning Process. in The Insitutue of American Indian Studies Bulletin, Summer/Fall 1991, edited by Leanard Bruguier, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota

AWARDS

2015 University of Queensland Alumni Award, Indigenous Community Impact

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia

State Library of Queensland

Queensland Museum

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