The Australian Government has acquired Archie Moore’s kith and kin. Commissioned by Creative Australia and curated by Ellie Buttrose, it was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the La Biennale de Venezia 2024.
kith and kin is being acquired by the Australian Government to be gifted to the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, who, along with their acquisition partner Tate, in the UK, will see two of the world’s leading art museums ensure its enduring legacy on the global stage.
“kith and kin is a great Australian story first exhibited in Venice, but now comes home,” said Minister for the Arts, the Hon Tony Burke MP.
In kith and kin, Moore charts his First Nations Australian connections spanning more than 2,400 generations and 65,000 years in a vast hand-drawn genealogical chart. As a memorial it confronts how the ongoing legacies of Australia’s colonial history – with a focus on the overincarceration of First Nations peoples – sever familial connections. kith and kin represents the expansiveness of First Nations Australian history, whilst speaking to the universality of the human family.
“Through the?unfolding of?a single-family tree, Moore’s work kith?and kin?pushes ancestral memory into the present and immerses audiences into the fullness of Indigenous time,” notes leading Indigenous scholar and curator, Stephen Gilchrist.
“Moving from the personal to the cosmic, it visualises Indigenous understanding of the interconnectedness of all things and all people and questions what it means to encounter the world on these terms.”
“Honouring the life force of 2400 generations, this significant shared acquisition amplifies the power of Indigenous presence and politics globally,” says Gilchrist.
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art and Tate’s connection with kith and kin is implied by the artwork itself following maternal First Nations (Kamilaroi/Bigambul) and paternal convict (British/Scottish) lines and along a complex terrain that defines and connects Australia and the United Kingdom as nations.
The gift of kith and kin to these public art museums ensures the act of First Nations truth-telling that kith and kin forcefully and poetically presents will remain on a global platform, continuing to increase international awareness of Australia’s first histories, languages and cultures and foster action for the issues facing First Nations Australians.
Following its display at the Australia Pavilion, Venice, kith and kin will be presented at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane from August 2025.
“I am so grateful for this generous donation that enables?kith and kin to be seen both here in Australia and overseas, in the near and distant future,” said Archie Moore.
“Encountering Archie Moore’s kith and kin?at the Venice Biennale was a spectacular and moving experience that resonated with the weight of history and ancestry,” said Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Director, Chris Saines CNZM.
“In its unimaginable endeavour to map a personal genealogy through more than two thousand generations, Moore has summoned up an extraordinary image of human connection through deep time. kith and kin has that rare power to still you into silence and reflection.”
“We are profoundly grateful to be the joint custodians of this historic work and we look forward to showing the project, curated by QAGOMA’s Curator of Contemporary Australian Art, Ellie Buttrose, in Brisbane from August 2025,” said Saines.
“Archie Moore’s kith and kin?is both highly personal and political, and it offers a powerful meditation on humanity’s interconnections stretching back into deep time,” said Tate Director, Maria Balshaw.
“Sharing this great work with QAGOMA also reflects the ever-stronger ties between Tate and our fellow art museums in Australia. I’m very grateful to Creative Australia and all our friends and colleagues in the region who have helped make these relationships blossom.”
Archie Moore’s kith and kin is currently on display in the Australia Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia until 24 November 2024. For more information, visit: www.kithandkin.me for details.
Image: Archie Moore, kith and kin, 2024 Australia Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2024 – photo by Andrea Rossetti, © the artist – image courtesy of the artist and The Commercial