Dr. Henry Skerritt: The art of Meeyakba Shane Pickett

Join us for an insightful talk with the esteemed Professor Henry Skerritt, as he takes us on a journey exploring the captivating art of Jdewat/Ballandong artist Meeyakba Shane Pickett.

With a career spanning over three decades, Pickett explored various styles and subjects, but it was his persistent muse, the Six Seasons, that remained his most profound motif.

To coincide with Pickett's exhibition Six Seasons at WA Museum Boola Bardip, Professor Skerritt delves into the artist's fascination with this subject. Through extensive interviews and conversations with Pickett, Skerritt argues that in the cyclical change of the seasons, Pickett found a way to not only celebrate Nyoongar life and culture but also to present the complexities of living across tradition and modernity.

By capturing the essence of the six seasons, Pickett found a way to represent both the situated nature of Indigenous knowledge and the landscape's ability to bear witness to the unfolding of time. His images are powerful and enduring, speaking to the specifics of Nyoongar culture while highlighting our shared humanity.

Delve into the cultural perspective of Meeyakba Shane Pickett's art and discover the beauty and depth of the Six Seasons.

About speaker Henry Skerritt: 

Henry Skerritt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of Virginia and Curator of Indigenous Arts of Australia at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. He has curated over twenty exhibitions in the United States and Australia, including No Boundaries: Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Abstract Painting (Nevada Museum of Art and touring); A World of Relations (Hood Museum of Art) and Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu | Past and Present Together: Fifty Years of Papunya Tula Artists (Kluge-Ruhe and touring). Since 2015, he has worked with Yolŋu artists and knowledge-holders to curate the exhibition Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. Along with W. Waṉambi and Kade McDonald, Skerritt edited the major bilingual catalogue to accompany the exhibition. Skerritt has written extensively on Aboriginal art, contributing to major exhibition catalogues for institutions including the National Museum of Australia; Harvard Art Museums; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Skerritt holds a Ph.D in art history from the University of Pittsburgh and a Masters in Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne. 

This program has been organised in collaboration with Sheridan Institute of Higher Education and the Indian Ocean Research Centre. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice 

In late 2023, Australians will have their say in a referendum about whether to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. 

Be ready for the conversation, become informed at Voice.gov.au