Nici Cumpston’s cinematic photographs document the ecologically devastated landscapes and waterways of the Murray-Darling River system. She is of Afghan, English, Irish and Barkindji heritage and is a descendant of the Darling River people of north-western New South Wales. Cumpston is culturally connected to the Murray-Darling river system. Since 2000 she has been photographing this area, capturing its demise due to drought and water redirection for farming and irrigation purposes.

Cumpston has spoken of wanting to create work that looks at the landscape through the lens of Aboriginal people, showing how it has been cared for by them for generations and communicating their ongoing spiritual and cultural connection to Country:

In 2016 Cumpston was invited to participate in the annual Indigenous Print Workshop run by Cicada Press at UNSW Art & Design. Cumpston created a group of six black and white photogravure prints based upon her photographs. The prints have a melancholic quality, an effect enhanced by the deep velvety tones of the old-fashioned photogravure process. River Red Gums feature prominently in these works. Flooded gum 2016 shows a massive Gum at Katarapko in the Murray River National Park. This area is part of a regeneration program in which water was pumped back into the creek to help keep the River Red Gum forests alive. In contrast, Winter III 2016 shows a stand of dead trees, their twisted branches stripped bare of foliage against a grey sky. A third work Mulyawongk depicts two Xanthorrhoea (grass trees), with dark playful energy:

Cumpston was born in Adelaide in 1963 and works as artist, curator, writer, and educator. She studied at the North Adelaide School of Art and completed at Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) at the University of South Australia in 2004. She is currently the curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia and was the Artistic Director of the TARNANTHI: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art in 2019.

Cumpston has been exhibiting since 1998 in solo and group exhibitions across Australia, China, France, Germany, and the United States. She has been included in major survey exhibitions including Australia, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2013) and UnDisclosed – 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2012).  She won the Work on Paper category at the 31st National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2014) and in 2014 undertook a residency at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA. Her work is held in public and private collections locally and internationally including the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, USA.

FEATURED WORKS FROM THE UNSW ART COLLECTION

RESOURCES

Nici Cumpston | artist website

Nici Cumpston - Coloring the Landscape | short film