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Dear Friends,
With the surge in Covid-19, we are following the Harris County mandate to “Stay Home, Work Safe,” so the gallery will remain closed through the end of August.
Meanwhile, we will update you via this website, occasional emails, and Facebook, as we all confront this pandemic together.
Our Current Exhibition page, which we will change at least twice a month, will now highlight a few works from our stockroom, with images and stories about the paintings and their creators. As always, if you would like more information about the featured artworks, or other paintings, please contact us at info@bookerlowegalley.com or leave us a message at 713.880.1541, and we will respond as quickly as possible!
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Well-known critic Robert Hughes called Australian Aboriginal art "the last great art movement of the twentieth century." Thankfully, this art movement continues to flourish in the twenty-first!
Founded in 2002, Booker-Lowe is the longest-running American art gallery showcasing Australia's acclaimed indigenous art. We offer our individual clients, interior designers and architects, and corporations and institutions, an array of original artworks, suitable for spaces from the bedroom to the board room.
Booker-Lowe Gallery offers:
- Master paintings by leading artists from throughout Australia's Central and Western deserts, and coastal regions. [Booker-Lowe is the exclusive American rep for the celebrated artists of Lockhart River in the far NE Queensland]
- Highly-collectible and affordable paintings by emerging artists
- Carvings and works on paper from Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands of northern Australia
- Fine art prints by indigenous artists from mainland Australia and the Torres Strait Islands
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Can We Walk Together?
As we all reel from the cataclysmic events of the first half of 2020 – from the ravages of the bushfires, to the horrific toll of the pandemic, to the brutal killing of George Floyd that sparked worldwide protests against racism – we offer our reflections on the shared challenges of reconciliation.
On Feb 13th, 2008, then Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP, issued a formal apology to the Indigenous people of Australia, acknowledging “past mistreatment…laws and policies…[that] inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss…”
Rudd followed the Apology with a commitment to reconciliation, to harnessing “the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity,” and to work together to create a future based “on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility…as truly equal partners.”
In 2015, Rudd again addressed Parliament, this time to review the status of reconciliation, and reminding his audience that its achievement involved improvements in social attitudes and conditions, policy and law, and economic opportunities. He also concluded that while some progress had been made, there were still widespread inequities in each and every area.
Here in Houston, as we watch coverage of marches protesting police brutality and systemic racism, we are reminded of Australia’s Apology and commitment to reconciliation, and to our country’s Constitutional promise of equality. Australia and the U.S. share not just democratic ideals, but also histories of discrimination. While the horrific death-in-custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis was the catalyst for the protests that rippled from the U.S. around the world, many Australians marched with signs recalling the death of a young Dhughutti man in December 2019. David Dungay Jr. was scheduled for parole in just days, when he became agitated in his cell, probably due to a diabetic episode after eating a packet of biscuits. Five prison officers restrained him and forcibly detained him, while he repeatedly cried out “I can’t breathe.” No officers were charged. In fact, in the last thirty years, 437 Aboriginal people have died while in detention. No Australian law enforcement officers have been convicted of wrongdoing.
Unquestionably, deaths-in-custody for African-Americans in the U.S. and Aboriginal people in Australia are inordinately high. Inequities in policy and law and in social and economic conditions and opportunities abound in both countries.
Still, as we watched coverage of hundreds of thousands of people from all races and religions, genders and ages, from all over the world, joining together to protest global racism, we saw glimmers of hope. Rage and disappointment, fear and denial, too, but also hope and determination. We are seeing signs that leaders at every level in government, educational and religious institutions, large corporations and small businesses, as well as individuals and families are speaking out in favor of change. Can we maintain the momentum? Can we find solutions?
Each year from May 27th through June 3rd, Australia celebrates National Reconciliation Week (NRW), honoring the important contributions of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. This year’s events, under the banner “Walking Together,” coincided with protests, once again reminding us that the journey to reconciliation and equality in both Australian and American societies remains long and hard. We hope you believe as we do that if we truly walk together, we can ultimately achieve the goals.
© Booker•Lowe Gallery 2020, 4623 Feagan Street, Houston, Texas 77007 USA
Tel: 713.880.1541 Fax: 713.862.8364
info@bookerlowegallery.com