Blak Dot turns 10! Celebrating a Deadly Decade!

Ten years ago we started our journey at the Lygon St gallery. Blak Dot has continued to expand and is now housed in Bulleke-bek (Brunswick) 33 Saxon St for the past six years. Our home at Siteworks and our ongoing alliance with the team on site has developed a relationship that is supportive of a First Nations-run space, this is a rare privilege within art institutions and councils.

Over the years, Blak Dot has championed the voices and stories of First Nations (Local and Global) creatives through over one hundred exhibitions, events, workshops, residencies, and our well-loved annual Artist Market. We are proud to have been the launching ground for many great careers in the arts.

Blak Dot facilitates and supports First Nations peoples to re-define and evolve their contemporary practise through art and culture while honouring cultural protocols. Our ties with our network of First Nations artists across Victoria, Australia, and internationally showcase our commitment to providing ongoing opportunities and access to a professional gallery environment for our cultural communities.

One way of ensuring our autonomy and artistic expression as First Peoples is our valued partnerships with festivals including Next Wave, Midsumma, YIRRAMBOI, Channels Festival, Melbourne Fashion Festival and The Melbourne Fringe Festival. Blak Dot has won the award for Best Visual Arts for Fringe multiple times which illustrates the talent of our artists. Through gallery programming and festival relationships, Blak Dot Gallery provides opportunities to teach and mentor aspiring Indigenous curators and art workers.

Along with our exhibition and events programming, we also offer a dedicated critical Indigenous learning space, Blakademy. Blakademy is now home to five community collectives and many individual artists. Blakademy houses a large collection of global and local Indigenous and non-European diasporic texts ( catalogues, monographs, anthologies, magazines) available for our communities. A dedicated Blak, and POC library, the first in Australia.

Next year, we look forward to our new partnership with the Sydney Road Music Festival who recognizes the importance of uplifting and holding space for First Nations musicians and artists.

Blak Dot and Siteworks will be under redevelopment in the coming year, as the gallery and Site undergo structural changes which will put the gallery and its First Nations community members at the front of the newly developed space. We look forward to working alongside Moreland City Council and Siteworks to ensure that this space will continue to be a dedicated First Nations community meeting place.

We acknowledge that Blak Dot would not be what it is today without its many volunteers and arts community. We are grateful for the immense effort, dedication, work, love, and care they’ve put into the space. As Naarm/Birrarang-ga’s only Indigneous-run artist-run gallery, we recognize that it’s our community who makes this gallery a culturally safe exhibiting space as well as a hub for First Nations mobs. We aim that in the future, the gallery, and site will continue to grow with the community. We also acknowledge our allies and supporters who have stood in solidarity with us throughout these years.

As we celebrate a deadly decade of Blak Dot and First Nations excellence we thank everyone who has put their heart and soul into this space. We will continue to practice self-determination, reciprocity, and respectful relationships with all community groups who walk through our doors. We will also continue to support vibrant contemporary First Peoples art and center our cultural and artistic leadership.

We look forward to discovering and sharing great art and artists with you for another decade as Blak Dot Gallery continues to showcase the outstanding talent of our First Nations artists.

Contributing Artists include:

Kareen Adam | Lena Becerra | Léuli Eshrāghi | Katherine Gailer | Monique Gilpin | Sonja Hodge | TAMSEN HOPKINSON | Kait James | Lily Laita | Lian Low | Kirsten Lyttle | Tāne McRoberts | Annie Moore | TextaQueen | Roberta Rich | Gina Ropiha | Tama Shaman | Frances Tapueluelu | Amani Tia | Veisinia Tonga | Michael Jalaru Torres | Peter Waples-Crowe | Lisa Waup

Proudly Supported by:

Australian Government Indigenous Language and Arts, Creative Victoria & Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA)