Closing Ceremony of the 2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair

Our Mayor, Councillor Bob Manning; First Nations Patron, Henrietta Fourmile-Marrie; all other distinguished guests; enthusiastic CIAF fair-goers. It is truly a privilege to attend this Official Closing Ceremony of the 2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, and to celebrate with you the richness and diversity of Queensland’s Indigenous art and culture. In doing so I extend greetings to the traditional custodians of the lands around Cairns, and express respect for Elders past and present.

As Patron of both the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and the Queensland Music Festival, it was a great joy to attend the Cape York Instrumental Program performance this afternoon by students from Hope Vale, Aurukun and Coen.

Kaye and I were honoured to receive a preview performance by some of these students during our visit to the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy in Hope Vale in mid-June.

They displayed impressive musicianship and I am sure you will agree, they performed magnificently today.

Visiting Art Centres in Aurukun and Lockhart River last month, it was impressed upon me, by the artists and by the Art Centre staff, the professional, cultural and economic significance of this Fair to their communities. 

To speak directly to the artists, to understand their artistic journey, and to see how artists working together encourage and inspire each other through knowledge and culture, is surely one of the most memorable aspects of visiting an Indigenous art centre.

It is the great gift of CIAF to generate that same engagement between the artists and the audience, and to curate an exhibition which showcases the dynamic, diverse and of course, highly-desirable art of Indigenous Queenslanders.

One of the exciting things for me, as I attend the Fair each year, is the evolution of the program, with new and innovative elements complementing the tried and true.

This year has seen an exceptionally diverse program, including Big Talk One Fire, the Blak Release Film Festival, CIAF Conversations, the Evening on the Green, the Gimuy Fish Festival and Richard Bell’s Embassy Installation, as well as the fiercely popular CIAF Fashion performance. Then there is the significant inclusion this year for the first time of the CIAF Art Awards, including the People’s Choice Award I was so privileged to just present.

This vibrant and growing Art Fair, all constructed within the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal in an impressively short amount of time, has had a significant impact on the flourishing of Queensland’s Indigenous artists.

It has become a tourism, artistic and cultural icon of the North, and I commend everyone involved in the organisation of this year’s Fair for your commitment to authenticity, to strengthening the connection between culture and country, to economic opportunity, to vibrancy and to equity.

This year’s CIAF has been a tremendous success, and on a note of celebration and commendation, I declare the 2017 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair to be officially closed.