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Avril Quaill (b. 1958), a Noonuccal woman, is an artist, curator and arts administrator. In 1985, Quaill graduated from Sydney College of the Arts, where she first met Riley. In 1987, she received an Australia Council Visual Arts Fellowship to take part in workshops at the Raminginning Arts Crafts centre (later Bula’bula Arts) in Arnhem Land. She has been Artistic Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency Principal Project Officer and worked as a curator at the National Gallery of Australia and Queensland Art Gallery. Quaill has served on the National Cultural Heritage Committee since 2002 and is currently Artistic Director for Arts Queensland.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013
Accession number: 2013.50.8
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On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Linda Burney, Brenda Croft and Darrell Sibosado share memories of Michael Riley and his photographic practice.
Michael Riley’s early portraits by Amanda Rowell.
Influential Indigenous Australian artist Michael Riley (1960 - 2004) created these portrait photographs between 1984 and 1990 - they stand as an intricately connected group portrait of the vibrant urban-based Indigenous arts community in Sydney's inner-west at a formative moment.