Country Speaking at Indigenous art fair’s 15th anniversary

The Cairns Indigenous Art Fair heralds its 15th year with anniversary celebrations unveiled.
L-R: Fashion designer Irene Robinson, CIAF Artistic Director Francoise Lane, and CIAF curatorial associate Teho Ropeyarn celebrate the program launch of CIAF's 15th anniversary season. Assorted artworks by the artists from Wik & Kugu Art Centre. Photo: Supplied. Robinson is a woman with short grey hair wearing a black dress with a large necklace that has pompoms attached to it. Lane is a woman with curly grey hair, a warm smile, holding a carved crocodile artwork. Ropeyarn is a man with dark brown hair and a trimmed beard, kneeling beside two more wooden carved artworks, including another crocodile and a dog. The three of them are posed in a light-filled, outdoor space.

The Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) will return for its 15th anniversary program from 25-28 July with a series of celebratory exhibitions, performances and participatory events across the city.

Setting the 2024 theme, ‘Country Speaking’, CIAF Artistic Director, Francoise Lane says, ‘From its humble beginnings as an art fair, CIAF has evolved into a multifaceted celebration of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts, culture and fashion, featuring artists, performers and creatives from the Torres Strait, Cape York and Gulf communities in the north out to western communities and down to the south-east corner.’

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Celina Lei is the Diversity and Inclusion Editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Most recently, Celina was one of three Australian participants in DFAT’s the Future of Leadership program. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne. Instagram @lleizy_