Dig Deeper follows the lives and creative practice of four ground-breaking First Nations artists: Blak Douglas, Maree Clarke, Penny Evans and Ben McKeown. This thought-provoking documentary explores commonalities across their art and their Aboriginality, from personal struggles and relationship to Country, to both engaging with and critiquing the establishment.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Street, Dig Deeper doesn’t shy away from challenging questions. How do you talk about the difficult things that have happened to you and from your history? Are you angry? Can you stir passion and emotion? How can you engage more deeply and focus on the regeneration of cultural practices?
Dig Deeper is presented as part of NAIDOC Week 2024 and Art Meets Film, a free program of film screenings inspired by the National Gallery collection.
The film follows Penny Evans as she prepares to present a major new commission, 'gudhuwali BURN (2020–21)', as part of the National Gallery’s 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony. In this monumental ceramic installation, Evans draws on time spent in Yaegl Country and the devastating impacts of the 2015 and 2019 bushfires on the landscape. Comprising more than 280 burnt banksia forms in clay, the work explores the cultural significance of fire and the tangible consequence of failing to follow Aboriginal protocols of caring for Country. Ceremony was presented at the National Gallery from 26 March to 31 July 2023 and is currently touring nationally.
Works by Blak Douglas, Maree Clarke, Penny Evans and Ben McKeown are all held in the National Gallery collection and Blak Douglas’ painting 'Not everyone's cup of tea' (2009) is currently on display in Gallery 5.
Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Tina Baum (Gulumirrgin (Larrakia)/Wardaman/Karajarri peoples) will provide a brief introduction to the screening.
Dig Deeper is held in the NFSA collection.
Art Meets Film is presented in partnership by the National Gallery of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.