The 'Black Family – Aboriginal Love' — Boomalli’s 2025 Mardi Gras exhibition — will open on Friday 21st of February 2025 and continue until Saturday 12th April 2025.
The show celebrates and uplifts the Queer Aboriginal community, offering an exploration of love, connection, and resilience. Each participating artist is invited to create works inspired by those who make them feel supported, accepted, and loved.
As Aboriginal people, we often face displacement, rejection, and adversity. Yet, no matter the challenges, we always find our way back to the people we belong with. We retrace and reconnect, while also building community and finding family wherever we are. This resilience is at the heart of our identity—a testament to how we support one another, create bonds, and how we love.
For Nioka, Boomalli has been a source of profound connection and transformation. Reflecting on her journey, she shares:
"Being part of this co-operative has been pivotal in my life. I went from being a closeted, shy teenager longing for connection to feeling accepted, supported, and have been mentored in ways that changed my life. This theme emerged from reflecting on the gratitude I feel. I wanted the artists to join me in celebrating how we accept and support one another as mob, within Boomalli and beyond, and the love we have for our people and those who stand by us."
Nioka acknowledges the invaluable mentorship of Boomalli curator, Kyra Kum-Sing and volunteer Senior Strategist, Dr. Bronwyn Bancroft. She considers it an honour to be able to learn from such powerful Black women and looks forward to applying their teachings to this exhibition.
Kyra’s artwork, Multitudes of Love, was chosen as the hero image for the show. Featuring hearts in the colours of the Aboriginal flag and patchwork elements. Nioka reflects:"Selecting Kyra’s work was an easy choice—it fits the theme so well and honours her mentorship throughout my journey as an emerging curator. Her guidance has been invaluable, not just in curatorial practice but in being an artist and a queer Aboriginal woman.
Black Family – Aboriginal Love
Friday 21 February until Saturday 12 April 2025.
Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery
The gallery is located in the Inner West suburb of Leichhardt (15-20 mins from Sydney’s CBD), opposite Leichhardt Marketplace. The gallery is easily accessible by all major forms of public transport.
55 - 59 Flood Street
Leichhardt NSW Australia
02 9560 2541
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