Our Land is Alive: Hermannsburg Potters for Kids

The National Gallery of Victoria will celebrate art and football with Our Land is Alive: Hermannsburg Potters for Kids exhibition, which will see the renowned indigenous artists, Hermannsburg Potters from the Northern Territory create football-inspired terracotta pots.

The potters, who recently celebrated 25 years of producing their highly collectible ceramics, have depicted iconic football moments of Indigenous players past and present, including the celebrated image of Nicky Winmar lifting his shirt and proudly pointing to the colour of his skin in 1993, to match-defining moments such as Hawthorn's Cyril Rioli taking a mark in the 2014 Grand Final.

The Hermannsburg Potters collective (the town is known as Ntaria to its residents) is situated 130 km south-west of Alice Springs. It is perhaps most famous as the home of the Hermannsburg Watercolour School pioneered in the mid-20^th century by Albert Namatjira , one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal artists. The introduced medium of ceramics has become part of the unique artistic practice of the town since being taught by Lutheran missionaries in the 19^th century.

In Our Land is Alive, the twenty newly commissioned pots are vibrantly and expressively painted by the artists and highlight the importance of football to the fabric of the community.  Through vivid and lively depictions of dynamic on-field football scenes that highlight pivotal moments which define indigenous football history, a sense of pride and community in the players and the game is conveyed. Indigenous footballers from the local Hermannsburg football club and all 18 AFL teams are featured on the pots, including triumphant moments achieved by football greats, such as Michael Long kicking AFL Goal of the Year from 50 metres out in 1993.