Artists from 'Art of the Nomad', a collaborative curatorial project focusing on the influence of the transient Northern Territory lifestyle on contemporary art and culture, are brave, curious and complicated.
19 Apr 2012
Chris Raja
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Writing and Publishing
Driving through The Gap is something I take for granted, but not so long ago people couldn’t just walk into Alice Springs uninvited. They had to sit down at certain boundaries, like The Gap, and ask an Arrernte custodian’s permission to enter – and sometimes they weren’t welcome. Today I might travel through The Gap six times a week. Everything’s changed. With this in mind, I approached my task of contributing to ‘Art of the Nomads’ with trepidation.
I immediately considered including the work of Rupert Betheras, Sia Cox and Rod Moss, all of whose work I was intimately familiar with. Like the work of these artists, I feel closely connected to the idea of being a ‘Territory Nomad.’ But I wanted to understand it more. Consulting a dictionary, I discovered the term ‘nomad’ comes from the Greek nomas from nemo, to pasture, an ironic concept in the middle of the desert, but one that suggested a kind of nourishing, rejuvenating quest.
Chris Raja migrated to Melbourne from Calcutta in 1986, and almost twenty years later he moved again, further inland, living and working in Alice Springs since 2004. Chris was co-guest consultant editor of Meanjin's Australasian issue in 2004 and since then has been a regular contributor to Quadrant, Southerly and Art Monthly Australia. His short story "After the Wreck" was adapted for radio and broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Short Story Program in 2007. His play Drew’s Seizure’ was performed at Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs in 2009. Chris worked as the NT Correspondent for Art Monthly Australia from 2010 to 2011 and he is currently a History and English teacher at St Philip’s College, Alice Springs. He and his actor wife Natasha co-wrote The First Garden’ with the assistance of a grant from Arts NT which premieres in September 2011 at the Olive Pink Botanic Garden.
