Tarnanthi on Tour: Too Deadly

Too Deadly showcases contemporary works of artistic excellence by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. It includes more than thirty ground-breaking works that have featured in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Tarnanthi Festival over the past decade.

Tarnanthi is a national festival of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, held in Adelaide every two years. Since 2015, it has established itself as a nation-leader in presenting the nuanced complexity and ingenuity of contemporary First Nations art. The name Tarnanthi – meaning to come forth or appear, in the language of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains – expresses the festival’s goal of encouraging new beginnings by providing artists with opportunities to create significant new work and extend their practice.

Too Deadly, a national touring exhibition, comprises innovative, significant and memorable works in diverse mediums, many of them conceived specifically for Tarnanthi. Some works are monumental in their scale, others are immense in the cultural importance of the stories they tell. All reflect the creative vitality and adaptive genius of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with principal partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia.