Gallery of White NT?

After a short nap, I jumped back on a scooter and zoomed my way out to the Museum and Gallery of the NT. The ride there was fun, cheap, and relatively quick with a nice coastal view as I got closer to the museum. It was a bit weird when Google Maps directed me to go through the high school to get there, but oh well 🤷🏼‍♂️.

I’d come to the gallery as I wanted to learn a bit more about the NT and its cultural heritage. I must say I was a little disappointed. It was definitely more museum than gallery, but that’s okay. It was the content of the exhibitions that kind of got me thinking they missed the plot. There was a gallery on film and media in wars - which I kind of get given the military history of Darwin, but not my thing. There was also an area about transformation - think animals, dinosaurs, and the like.

Cyclone Tracey was up next, which I enjoyed a bit more, including a dark room (no, not that kind, naughty 😈) that had noises that mimicked the sound of a cyclone. The high school works exhibition was the main art piece, with some creative students presenting some really good works. A section on invertebrates had some nice photos of some creepy critters, and the outside section had a heap of old boats. It was like a sauna out there though, so I didn’t stay long.

What the museum-cum-gallery didn’t really do well was much Aboriginal / First Nations art or history. Insert my inner-city woke rant here. What they had was practically a hallway between exhibits, which was interesting, but I feel that the gallery for the Northern Territory should have more that represents its traditional owners - and a large part of its tourism attractiveness!

Where was there Aboriginal art - the gift shop. It was full of things you could buy with Aboriginal prints on them, postcards, and other trinkets. It seems they are okay with commercialising it, but not really displaying it or telling their stories. So, in a bit of a disappointed lefty mood, I grabbed an Uber back into the city for a late lunch. Maybe I was just hangry, but really NT - do better!Meer informatie