{"id":2986,"date":"2026-05-13T16:29:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/jcg\/?post_type=events&p=2986"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:29:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:29:46","slug":"artist-talk-christopher-pease","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/jcg\/events\/artist-talk-christopher-pease\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Talk: Christopher Pease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Join Minang\/Wardandi\/Bibbulmun artist Christopher Pease in conversation with Curator Lia McKnight about his major survey exhibition Terra Nullius<\/a><\/em>, showing at John Curtin Gallery from 29 May – 23 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing from museum archives and 19th-century colonial landscape painting, the exhibition powerfully transforms a colonial fiction of \u201cnobody\u2019s land\u201d. Pease reworks images that once framed Western Australia as empty and available for settlement, reinscribing Indigenous presence into landscapes through bold Noongar iconography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist bio<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Pease <\/strong>(born\u202f1969) is a critically acclaimed Noongar artist of Minang\/Wardandi\/Bibbulmun descent from south\u2011west Western Australia. His visual language is deeply rooted in both traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and the history of Western figurative oil painting, particularly 19th\u2011century techniques. Drawing on extensive research of colonial archives and historical imagery, Pease interrogates the visual and cultural legacies of colonisation, exploring themes of land ownership, sovereignty, social justice, identity and resilience, while emphasising the enduring connection of Noongar people to Country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pease\u2019s paintings often juxtapose Western cultural references with scenes of traditional Indigenous life, illustrating how Aboriginal communities have historically interacted with land and nature. In recent works, cross-sections of native flora are transformed into repetitive motifs and regimented decorative patterns, reminiscent of contemporary wallpaper designs, revealing the tensions between modern notions of living and the loss of Aboriginal culture and land. His vocabulary of visual metaphor frequently engages with concepts of home, land ownership, and dispossession, asserting Indigenous presence and resilience within landscapes once rendered \u201cempty\u201d by colonial narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pease has received significant recognition, including the Painting Prize at the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (2002), and major public commissions such as the monumental rooftop installation Targets<\/em> at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, one of the largest public works by a Noongar artist in the state. His work is held in major national and international collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and Queensland Art Gallery \/ Gallery of Modern Art, as well as private collections in Australia and the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lives and works in Dunsborough, WA, and continues to expand his practice through exhibitions, commissions, and collaborations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curator bio<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lia McKnight<\/strong> has been Curator at John Curtin Gallery since 2023. She has delivered numerous major projects, most recently, A call and response across the ocean<\/em>, 2026 featuring Cape Town artist Thania Petersen for the Perth Festival, Dirt feeling, <\/em>2025 a survey of 124 ceramic works from the Curtin University Art Collection and the current major solo exhibition by Chris Pease, Terra Nullius<\/em>, 2026. Lia graduated from Edith Cowan University with a BA Visual Arts in 1997. She began a Master of Arts Administration at COFA, UNSW in 2002, before heading back to WA in 2003 to start a family. She completed a Master of Arts, Cultural Heritage at Curtin University in 2005 and worked as an Independent Curator before joining the John Curtin Gallery team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Event Details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sunday 31 May 2026
2:00pm \u2013 3:00pm
Free event, open to the public<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event will be photographed and\/or videoed and images will occasionally be used for promotional and marketing purposes, including social media. If you do not wish to be photographed or videoed, please notify staff at event registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility<\/strong> Everyone is welcome at the John Curtin Gallery. Plan your visit<\/a> to the John Curtin Gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Header image credit: Portrait of Christopher Pease by Russell Ord. Christopher Pease, The Whalers 3, oil on linen, 150 x 180 cm. Image courtesy artist and GallerySmith. Photo by Russel Ord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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