Since 2009, CIAF has grown into a world-class platform showcasing the richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture, from rainforest to reef, desert to freshwater. More than an art fair, CIAF is a movement: a catalyst for truth-telling, cultural exchange, and contemporary expression across visual art, performance, music, fashion, and storytelling.
Distinctly Queensland yet globally significant, CIAF is renowned for its ethical art marketplace and immersive experiences that attract collectors, curators, and audiences from around the world. In 2024, CIAF contributed more than $9 million to Queensland’s economy while creating transformative opportunities for thousands of Indigenous artists.
Looking toward the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and beyond, CIAF is committed to strengthening Queensland’s First Nations arts sector, expanding global connections, and shaping the future of Australia’s cultural identity.
CIAF is where Queensland’s First Peoples converge to share culture, shape contemporary practice, and lead the global arts conversation.
CIAF 2026 THEME: Reclamation & Regeneration
CIAF presents ‘Reclamation & Regeneration’ as the theme for 2026, honouring the enduring strength, vitality and creativity of Queensland’s First Nations peoples.
reclamation
noun
rec·la·ma·tion
1 : the act or process of reclaiming : the state of being reclaimed
regeneration
re·gen·er·a·tion
1 : an act or the process of regenerating : the state of being regenerated
2 : spiritual renewal or revival
Reclamation is the active retrieval of what was taken, lost, archived or forgotten; whilst Regeneration is the renewal and transformation of that knowledge into vibrant, living cultures. Together, they form a cycle of cultural survival, resurgence and innovation.
Reclamation speaks to a return to Country, to memory, and to stories passed down through generations. It is an act of resistance and resurgence by reclaiming space through expressions of language, cultural identity and spiritual connection. It confronts the dispossession and disruption of peoples from Country and the environment, while addressing the threats posed to our cultural expressions, belief systems, and visual languages and iconography.
Together, Reclamation & Regeneration invites exploration of the following areas of practice:
- Welcomes to Country:
Reclaiming ceremony and asserting cultural protocols and rights.
- Spirituality:
Reinvigorating authentic belief systems and ancestral connections.
- Reclaiming Space:
Asserting First Nations’ presence in public and creative domains and discourse.
- Reviving Language:
Revitalising First Nations languages as vessels of identity and knowledge.
- Cultural Identity and Designs:
Reclaiming and evolving traditional aesthetics, symbols and expressions pertaining to your direct clan traditions.
- Climate Justice:
Responding to environmental disruption and advocating for the protection and regeneration of Country.
- The Five Great Elements:
Highlighting the importance of our natural elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Sky/Space as Country, and to support healing.
- Healing and Wellbeing:
Revisiting medicinal properties of traditional food and cultural ways of propagation.
These themes are not static; they are living, breathing processes. They honour the past, empower the present and shape the future of First Nations art, cultures, families, and community.
CIAF 2026 invites artists (as cultural practitioners), curators and critics, and audiences alike to engage deeply and honestly with Reclamation & Regeneration as demonstrations of First Nations’ perspectives and as acts of healing and creative regeneration.
Regeneration builds upon the foundational work of Reclamation; it breathes new life into repossessed knowledges. It is a creative force that sustains cultural identity through intergenerational exchange, innovation and healing. Regeneration nurtures the land and spirit, and imagines futures rooted in healing and transformation.
STATEMENT FROM CIAF ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TEHO ROPEYARN
“Reclamation is a powerful act of cultural resurgence. It speaks to the ongoing process of retrieving what has been taken, lost, archived, or forgotten. For Queensland’s First Nations communities, reclamation is not only a response to historical and ongoing dispossession, but also a declaration of survival, sovereignty, and strength. It is a return to Country, to ancestral memory, and to stories carried through generations. Reclamation is a living practice, there will always be something to reclaim, whether it be language, land, knowledge, or spiritual connection. Through art, Reclamation becomes a vehicle for truth-telling and healing. It confronts the dislocation of people from Country and the erosion of cultural knowledge, while celebrating the revival of language, belief systems, and aesthetics. It challenges cultural fragility and asserts the right to self-expression, identity, and spiritual continuity.
Reclamation is not just a theme; it is a movement. It is the art of remembering, resisting, and rising.
Regeneration is the natural partner to Reclamation. Where ‘reclamation’ retrieves what was lost, ‘regeneration’ breathes new life into it. It is the act of renewal, of cultural growth, and of creative evolution. For Queensland’s First Nations communities, regeneration is a dynamic force rooted in ancestral knowledge yet reaching boldly into the future.
This honours the resilience of First Nations cultures and our capacity to adapt, transform and flourish. It celebrates the continuation of traditions through new forms and new generations. Through art, Regeneration becomes a space for innovation and cultural continuity. It nurtures the seeds of reclaimed knowledge and allows them to grow. It supports the healing of land and people, and the strengthening of community through creativity”.
Calls to action for artists:
Your art can be bold or quiet, traditional or new. It can be a way to heal, to teach, to remember, or to dream. Through Reclamation & Regeneration, CIAF 2026 invites you to share your truth, your ideas and your vision within safe surrounds and with unfettered passion.
- Consider reviving language in your work by titling all artworks in language for CIAF 2026. Artists are encouraged to research your people’s language through appropriate channels and also by speaking to your Elders and knowledge holders.
- Revisit Country to engage in ways that take on a new approach to making, creating and to be inspired by other elements of life and experiences that can inform your practice.
- Consider researching other ideas and elements based on the sub themes to obtain new information about your clan, people and culture that may have been lost to history, not allowed to practice, and is appropriate to use in your artwork to inspire new ways of making.
- Consider cultural education for the wider public by asserting spirituality and protocols relating to your people in your work
- Explore other ways of presenting a story, practice or life experience by cultivating new artistic expressions and igniting future imaginations to innovate and transform art and culture.
Find out more at www.ciaf.com.au
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