Sullivan+Strumpf presents By The Grace of God, a powerful First Nations exhibition honouring Albert Namatjira and his enduring legacy.

Featuring new works by Tony Albert and renowned artists from Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) and the Hermannsburg Potters, the exhibition honours Albert Namatjira and his enduring legacy. Bringing together painting, ceramics and Albert’s signature text-based assemblages, the exhibition explores the layered intersections of faith, cultural identity, history and artistic practice that Namatjira so powerfully embodied.

At the heart of this new exhibition is a new text-based work by Tony Albert, ‘By the Grace of God, I am What I am’, its title drawn from the words spoken at Namatjira’s funeral.

The phrase is biblical. It speaks of humility and divine authorship. But in Namatjira’s life, grace was complicated. He was celebrated internationally and yet denied basic citizenship in his own country. He was embraced as a national treasure and punished as an Aboriginal man. His story is both exceptional and tragically familiar, metaphorical of the broader Aboriginal condition in Australia.