Sian Harris is a Kurnu Paakantyi woman from Wilcannia in far west New South Wales. She is a contemporary Aboriginal artist who works mainly with acrylic on canvas and mixed media works on paper.
Her body of work comes from the worldview of a Kurnu Paakantyi Nhuungku. The pieces are at once personal and political, in keeping with the artist’s stance that her presence, as a self-presenting Blak Woman, in systems and structures built to exclude her, is a radical act. The work focuses on Paakantyi Spirituality; Aboriginal resistance; connection to Country; decolonising queerness; mental illness; and representations of womanhood and the female form.
Harris was a finalist in the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize in the Indigenous Emerging category, 2020.
Harris was a panellist for the Regional Arts Australia Artlands Conversations Series: Beyond the Biennale #4, 2020
Harris was a finalist for the National Capital Art Prize, 2021
Harris was a finalist for the WAMA Art Prize, 2021
Harris was a panellist for the Southern Western Launch at the Mildura Arts Centre, 2022
Harris was the recipient of the West Darling Arts Regional Futures 2022 Commission
Harris was a panellist for the Borders Regenerative Practice Mildura Lab, 2022
Harris was a finalist in the National Capital Art Prize Indigenous Category, 2022
Artist Statement:
First Nations concepts of time are cyclical and all encompassing; what happened in the past is happening now. I can’t speak on the modern without addressing the past. The impacts of colonisation are seen in everyday life for us. One major aspect of colonisation that as impacted negatively on a further marginalised group within an already marginalised group is the historical erasure of Blak LGBTQI+ individuals. Our strengthening catchcry and affirmation, which asserts our sovereignty, is Always Was, Always Will Be – I extend this to our existence as Blak people who identify as LGBTQI+ . We have always been here. My work reaffirms and examines this.
It also declares that Aboriginal art can and should explore the gamut of human experience, just like other styles do, thus stepping away from often sanitised versions of voice and truth. This is a representation in a modern time that acknowledges existence of women like me from other times.
IG: @sian_h1