Tracey Moffatt AO (b. 1960) has built an international reputation with a body of films and photographic series reflecting on issues including race, childhood trauma, gender and popular culture. Born in Brisbane, she graduated from the Queensland College of Art in 1982. After moving to Sydney, Moffatt became widely known through her celebrated first solo exhibition, Something More (1989). In 1990 her short film Night Cries – A Rural Tragedy (1989) was selected for official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, as was her first feature-length film, Bedevil, in 1993. She was invited to exhibit in the Venice Biennale in 1997, and during that year held solo exhibitions in Germany, Denmark, France and the USA. Moffatt became the first Aboriginal artist to present a solo exhibition, My Horizon, at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
Photographer Michael Riley and Moffatt met when they both worked at the Sydney College of the Arts in 1985. When Moffatt co-curated the NADOC '86 Exhibition of Aboriginal and Islander Photographers at the Aboriginal Artists Gallery, she immediately thought of Riley. This portrait of Moffatt was included in that exhibition. The following year they were both among the co-founders of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative. Riley also worked on Moffatt's first film Nice Coloured Girls (1987), while completing his Film Australia traineeship.
Purchased 2013
© Michael Riley/Copyright Agency, 2024
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Linda Burney, Brenda Croft and Darrell Sibosado share memories of Michael Riley and his photographic practice.
Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.
