A
t the NGV’s new exhibition Future Country, the art is not the only thing on display. So is trust. So is guidance. So is the quiet, often unseen work of one artist helping another find the courage to go further.
The second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions brings together eight emerging First Nations artists and designers from across Australia with eight established mentors. The result is not just an exhibition. It is a conversation across generations, across communities, across art forms and experiences.
The show opened to media on March 19, and as artists and mentors stood beside their works, one thing became clear: this program is as much about relationship as it is about outcome.
Dr Jessica Clark, Senior Curator of First Nations Art at the NGV, described the model as one grounded in “First Nations ways of working through intergenerational knowledge sharing”. That idea runs through the whole exhibition.
The title itself carries urgency. As Clark put it, Future Country is shaped by questions about “what the future holds”. But it is not future in the abstract. It is deeply tied to memory, ancestry and responsibility. Or, as mentor Karla Dickens said in a line Clark singled out: “Future Country is about what’s at stake in the now.”
That spirit can be felt in the work of Northern Territory artist Stephanie Ali, whose woven installation marks her first independent presentation in a major space. Ali spoke simply and directly about where her work begins.
“I’ve been taught by the women in my family, my mother, my grandmother, and weaving has always been part of my life,” she said. “It’s something I’ve grown up with, something I’ve learned over time, and something I now pass on.”
Her mentor Doreen Jinggarrabarra made clear that weaving here is not just technique. It is memory, identity and continuity. “These works carry stories – stories of people, of place, and of culture. It connects generations. It teaches younger people about where they come from and who they are.”
That idea of carrying something forward — not only skill, but responsibility — sits at the heart of the exhibition.
For Victorian artist Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis, mentorship helped her test the boundaries of her own practice. Her large-scale photographic work Channels invites people to walk across an image of a waterway on Kooma Country in Central West Queensland. It is a bold gesture, and an unsettling one.
“The invitation for people to walk on the work acts as a metaphor for the ongoing destruction and extraction of Country,” Romanis said. “I want people to be aware that wherever they walk in this place now known as Australia, they are walking on Aboriginal land.”
Romanis said working with mentor Brook Andrew was crucial as she navigated making work for a major institution for the first time. “Brook gave me the confidence to push my creative vision. H really helped me find my voice as a young artist and grow more confident in my practice.”
In that sense, mentorship here is not about smoothing out an artist’s edges. It is about giving them room to sharpen them.
That comes through strongly in the Queensland pairing of Boneta-Marie Mabo and Megan Cope. Mabo’s work draws on the history of Palm Island, youth incarceration and the long shadow of laws that targeted Aboriginal children. It comes from a hard place, but it is not defeated by that history. It asks what kind of future can be imagined if the truth is faced honestly.
“My mentor has really helped me think bigger than I ever have before – and I think that’s the whole point of this program,” Mabo said. “It’s also been incredibly valuable to have someone to talk to – to share ideas with, to work through processes.”
Cope said she knew early on that Mabo was someone special. “She really stood out to me,” she said. “I was deeply impressed by her commitment to social justice, and her care for the future.”
In South Australia, Carly Tarkari Dodd’s work brings that care into the intimate space of family archives. Her practice engages with old mission photographs, including images of her own ancestors that sit in museum collections, often stripped of warmth and context.
“These are not just archival records, they are our people,” she said.
Dodd said the support of mentor Yhonnie Scarce mattered especially because the work was so personal. “At times, it’s also been quite vulnerable – sharing personal and family stories in this way can be confronting. But having that support has made a huge difference.”
Scarce, in turn, spoke of mentorship not as a one-off arrangement, but as an ongoing commitment. “For me, mentorship is about supporting and empowering the next generation – helping them find their voice and navigate their path. And mentorship doesn’t end here – it’s ongoing.”
Nowhere is that continuum more movingly expressed than in the ACT collaboration between Paul Girrawah House and Professor Brenda L. Croft. House’s bronze coolamons honour matriarchs, especially his mother, Dr Matilda House OAM. They are heavy works, literally and emotionally, but in the gallery they seem to float.
“This work acknowledges all our matriarchs on Country and the strength of women in the creation and continuation of culture,” House said.
Croft’s response to the work was not distant or academic. It was personal, familial, full of history. “Paul is like a brother to me,” she said. “Thank you for trusting me to work with you on this project, and to help you realise your vision.”
That trust is also evident in the New South Wales pairing of Charlotte Allingham and Karla Dickens. Allingham’s Maggie Doll is playful, bright and interactive, but it also makes a serious point about representation. She created the work after having her daughter Maggie, wanting to make a doll “she could see herself in”.
“There’s a bit of humour in it – a bit of cheekiness – but it’s also about bringing Black dolls into a space that historically hasn’t always included us,” Allingham said. “It’s about imagining different futures – futures where we are visible, celebrated, and represented.”
Allingham also spoke frankly about how mentorship helped her stay grounded in herself. “Sometimes I’ve felt like I needed to be someone else to fit in. But having that support -having someone who encourages me to stay true to myself – has been really powerful.”
Dickens clearly saw that quality in her from the start. “Charlotte has that same duality -there’s a strong political voice, but also a gentle, playful, even magical quality,” she said.
Nunami Sculthorpe-Green from Tasmania spoke about the impact of having a senior practitioner believe in her. Her installation, inspired by shell stringing traditions, honours women, Country and cultural endurance. Even with mentor Lola Greeno absent on the day, her presence was felt in every word.
“She really encouraged me to push my ideas further, especially in terms of scale and form,” Sculthorpe-Green said. “There are elements of this work I wouldn’t have attempted without her guidance.”
And from Western Australia, Katie West described a similar experience. Her film installation, made in honour of her grandmother, moves through dream, memory and loss. She said mentor Clothilde Bullen helped her navigate the challenge of making such an ambitious work.
“She encouraged me to push beyond what I thought I could do. Her support made me more confident in my ideas and in how I realised them.”
Bullen, for her part, highlighted something often missing for artists: time. “Programs like this allow artists the time and space to grow – to test ideas, to push their practice, and to work at a larger scale,” she said. “That’s something that’s often missing, so it’s incredibly valuable.”
That may be the simplest way to understand Future Country. It is not mentorship as branding exercise or polite professional pairing. It is mentorship as time, conversation, risk, honesty and care. It is someone saying: go further, I’m here.
Together, these diverse works tell a larger story about what happens when emerging artists are not merely given a wall, but are properly backed.
FUTURE COUNTRY: Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions runs from 20 March to 13 September 2026 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. Entry is free.
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