Find artistic treasures large and small as you stroll around Kambri, where art and the community are brought together.
Reflect, relax, and be inspired as you explore the Kambri precinct, where you can choose to participate actively or passively in the rich display of public artworks.
Featuring significant Indigenous paintings, noteworthy sculptures and a Sidney Nolan masterpiece, the diverse selection of art at Kambri attests to a culture that values creative thinking.
When the Kambri precinct was opened in February 2019, one of the major highlights was the grand reveal of Sidney Nolan’s seminal artwork, Eureka Stockade, a striking 20-metre long mural that is recognised as one of Nolan’s largest and most ambitious works.
The install was nothing short of monumental, with the work made up of 66 copperplate panels that depict the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which took place on the Ballarat goldfields in December 1854. The medium of enamel on copper invokes the volatile, incendiary quality of those infamous skirmishes.
The artwork was donated to ANU by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which commissioned it to adorn the foyer of their head office in Melbourne when it was completed in 1966. Now hanging in the Manning Clark Hall in the Kambri Cultural Centre, visitors are able to view the work during non-teaching periods.
Also located in the Cultural Centre, hanging prominently in the foyer, are 10 large works that are part of Indigenous artist Naata Nungurrayi’s epic 155 piece collection titled Iconography, completed between 2011-2014 when she was in her early eighties.
Naata’s Iconography series consists of large-scale line drawings in black paint inscribed on to canvases primed with a resplendent ruby red. This series marked a break with her earlier style, with no elaboration, filling-in or dots. The paintings reflect the most elemental experiences of living with the earth, with the artist deliberately exposing the bare bones of her “Dreamings” and reducing them to their essential lines. Also of significance is the fact that Naata is one of the few women who have the authority to represent aspects of the Tingari story, which is normally the prerogative of men.
Another Indigenous work of note is much more recent – the magnificent Kambri Ground Map is a sculpture created by Wellspring Arts, which was installed in a prominent public section of Kambri in time for the precinct’s opening in early 2019.
The Ground Map is a stunning visual depiction of significant Indigenous sites from the local area. Wellspring Arts were honoured to be entrusted by the Ngunawal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri Elders to bring their vision to fruition. The Ground Map portrays valleys that are criss-crossed with ancient pathways that are still enormously important today.
The plethora of artworks in the vibrant public realm ensure Kambri will remain a learning, events and leisure destination for generations to come.