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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

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Gary Foley, Invasion Day - We Have Survived

1988
Juno Gemes

gelatin silver photograph on paper, edition A/P (sheet: 51.0 cm x 60.8 cm, image: 31.8 cm x 44.0 cm)

Gary Foley (b. 1950) is a Gumbainggir activist, actor, historian, curator and academic. Born in Grafton, Foley moved to Sydney at the age of seventeen. Not long after, he read the biography of African-American activist Malcolm X and developed into an Indigenous rights activist. Foley helped to set up Redfern's Aboriginal Legal Service and the Aboriginal Medical Service in Sydney and Melbourne, and in 1972 was prominent at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. An advocate of Indigenous creative culture, he took Aboriginal films to the Cannes film festival in 1978. The first Indigenous Director of the Aboriginal Arts Board (1984–1987), he was active in the Bicentenary protests of 1988, and was a consultant to the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody. Foley has written extensively on Indigenous political movements and in 1994 created the Koori History Website, an intensive history archive and education resource. Senior Curator for Southeastern Australia at Museum Victoria from 2001 to 2005, he completed at PhD in History at the University of Melbourne in 2012 and is a professor at Victoria University.

Photographer Juno Gemes has spent much of her career documenting the lives and struggles of Aboriginal people. She took this photograph of Foley with a 'We Have Survived' banner at La Perouse in Sydney on 26 January 1988.

Gift of the artist 2004. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Juno Gemes (age 44 in 1988)

Gary Foley (age 38 in 1988)

Donated by

Juno Gemes (22 portraits)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

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