No Vacancy Gallery, 3-8 July 2023

I can’t imagine my life without painting because when I paint, I feel free like a bird, Uncle Greg Muir

Uncle Greg Muir: A Retrospective is the first major retrospective of award-winning Yorta Yorta artist Uncle Greg Muir.

Taking inspiration from photographs – mostly from his own collection, Uncle Greg takes the viewer on a captivating journey retelling his stories through art, and the intersection between disability and Aboriginality.

Uncle Greg, who has cerebral palsy, has been painting for over 50 years.  He took his first art class in 1971 with Scope, and this class was a springboard for a prolific career in the visual and performing arts.

This retrospective brings together 30 of Uncle Greg’s well-known landscapes and portraits of family and friends, along with an online gallery of 53 works.

His early works give visual expression to his story, as an Aboriginal man with a disability, and his more recent works focus on family and friends.  Working in acrylics, colour is a recurring motif in Uncle Greg’s work.

“My identity is a big influence on my paintings. I am inspired by the art of my ancestors and I am inspired by other artists with disability, and I want to express this through my work.  It is very important to showcase this through my paintings. When someone sees my paintings, I want to teach them about my people, my history and my identity, says Uncle Greg.

Institutionalised since a baby until the age of 16, Uncle Greg now lives in McKinnon and works from his home studio.

His work is held in private and public collections across Australia.

Exhibition celebration and smoking ceremony, with Welcome to Country by N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM on Saturday 8 July, 12.30-2.30 pm.

Presented by Arts Access Victoria as part of NAIDOC Week, Uncle Greg Muir: A Retrospective at No Vacancy Gallery, 34-40 Jane Bell Lane (off Russell St), Level 3, QV Building, Naarm, 3-8 July 2023.  https://www.artsaccess.com.au/whats-on/greg-muir/