South Coast Indigenous Artists present a wide variety of talent at Spiral Gallery Bega

Saturday August 12, marked the opening day of the latest South Coast Indigenous Artists Exhibition at Spiral Gallery Bega.

Once everyone was gathered, Aunty Glenda Dixon kicked the launch off with a Welcome to Country.

In her speech she acknowledged not only the variety of artworks on display but also her pride in seeing so many local artists exhibiting their works.

"I was so excited to come here today and looking around and seeing all the artwork, I can't help but think 'oh my god, they're so talented'," she said.

South East Arts executive director, Andrew Gray, added on from Aunty Glenda's speech by acknowledging Spiral Gallery for hosting the Indigenous artwork exhibition, which he said had a very positive and far reaching impact.

"I would like to thank Spiral Gallery for coming on board to support our Indigenous artists, as you can see from the exhibition here it features so many artworks from talented artists up and down the coast," he said.

Andrew said there were artworks from as far north as Batemans Bay, then all the way south to Eden, near the Victorian border.

"We at South East Arts have a big focus on supporting Aboriginal arts and culture in the region and it has been really encouraging to see the growth in the number of artists creating original works," he said.

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Of the Indigenous artists in attendance on the day, Bidjigal and Gweagal woman Emma Stewart, was invited to get up and say a few words.

Emma said she was proud to present her artworks which came in the form of jewellery pieces created out of native items such as seeds, shells and emu feathers (among other items).

"I'm really grateful to be able to carry out the legacy of our ancestors through my art, as every single artist is doing in this room today," she said.

"The artworks on display today are not about looking at how beautiful they are, but about understanding the culture that comes from it and the power we get from making and creating pieces that carry the voice of our ancestors."

Ms Stewart's reflection on the spiritual meaning and power behind the artworks was echoed by Djiringanj artist, Marcus Mundy.

Marcus said when creating his collaboration piece with Lucinda Thurston, they'd channelled memories of the late Aunty Colleen Dixon.

"When Lucinda and I were making it, we were both thinking of Aunty Colleen because when she would come out to schools, she'd draw the Bogong moth and that's part of the reason we did this artwork too, to honour her memory," he said.

The artwork dubbed the Bogong Migration featured a long vertical canvas with a black background, that made the winged insect's colours and intricate designs stand out to people passing by.

While the artwork was not for sale, Marcus discussed that they were looking to hang it up in a public setting, that was yet to be decided, where people could continue to enjoy looking at the artwork and remember the creation story behind it.

Marcus said the creation story of the Bogong Moth was about a brightly coloured female moth which one day decided to ignore the advice of her male companion and ventured too far up the Snowy Mountains and got trapped.

However as spring came, she was released and while her colours had disappeared into the earth leaving her with brown colours instead, beautiful native flowers had blossomed where she had been trapped.

Marcus and Lucinda also had a range of other artworks they'd created individually on display in the exhibition.

In total there were works from 12 Indigenous artists, these included Don Atkinson, Natalie Bateman, Jidi Cooper, Sabrina Canavan, Ashweeni Mason, Sharon Mason, Vivienne Mason, Marcus Mundy, Lucinda Thurston, Bronwyn Smith, Rachel Smith and Emma Stewart.

Bega based Indigenous artist, Sabrina Canavan had five acrylic paintings on display which she had created at Tulgeen Bega through the Art in the Garage program for artists with disabilities.

Sabrina was pleased with her artworks on display and even more so to discover she'd already sold three of the five.

"I had different inspirations for each of them, the two small ones at the top represented travel between families," she said.

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"I also painted the black duck, and the one above my head was of swans swimming away from each other and the ripple effect they made in the water which I drew up from images in my head."

Sabrina's success in selling artworks carried across the room, as various artworks from other artists were marked with a little red sticker that alerted onlookers the piece was taken.

Spiral Gallery chairperson, Diana Stewart said the exhibition had begun with a really strong start and she was grateful for the "great community support".

"We've had a fantastic response from the community and I was just talking to Marcus Mundy who exhibited artworks with us last year and he was saying how different this year's show is," she said.

Diana said the "beauty of exhibitions" was that they changed every year, with the entries of works and ways they were displayed around the room creating a different look.

"Every exhibition is so different, you get some new artists, new works and the Spiral Gallery members who install it all take a lot of care in where they place them," she said.

"It's been a lovely occasion and it was really nice to have Aunty Glenda Dixon give a Welcome to Country and Andrew Gray from South East Arts who sponsored the exhibition."

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Diana said the sponsorship and funding support from the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program, meant the gallery members were able to give so many more artists the opportunity to "showcase their incredible talent and richness in culture".

"It's an exciting and beautiful exhibition and while we've got lots of pieces that have been sold, we've still got lots of beautiful ones left," she said.

The exhibition will be on display at Spiral Gallery in Bega until August 30, opening hours can be found on the gallery's website.