Daniel Boyd

Daniel Boyd is a Kudjala/Gangalu/Kuku-Yalanji/Waka Waka/Gubbi Gubbi/Wangerriburra/Bandjalung man from Far North Queensland, and one of Australia’s leading artists. His work reinterprets Eurocentric perspectives on Australian history and the ethics of colonisation by using historic photographs, art-historical references and his own personal and cultural history. He studied art at the Australian National University School of Art & Design in Canberra, graduating in 2005. He now lives and works in Sydney.

Boyd has been exhibiting since 2005 and has been included in the following exhibitions: Rainbow Serpent, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; LIGHT WORK – TRIBUTE SYSTEM, STATION, Melbourne; Daniel Boyd: Bittersweet, Cairns Regional Gallery, Queensland; Floating Forest, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; Daniel Boyd: Hello Darkness, Dark Mofo 2017, Hobart, Tasmania; 20th Biennale of Sydney: The Future is already here- it’s just not evenly distributed, Curated by Stephanie Rosenthal 2016; 56th Venice Biennale, All the World’s Futures, Curated by Okwui Enwezor, 2015; Up In Smoke Tour, Natural History Museum, London, 2012; 7th AsiaPacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012; and Culture warriors: National Indigenous Art Triennial, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2007.

In 2014, Boyd became the first Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander artist to receive the prestigious Bulgari Art Prize, administered by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He said of his work in 2014, “'My recent work is about the trajectory of information and how it passes back and forth over time and between cultures. Through the movement of information details and facts associated with historical events and objects are lost. The paintings acknowledge this process and are a remembrance of that loss. They recognize that we will never be able to fully comprehend our past or our future. My use of dots references the idea of the cultural lens and the fact that we all have different points of view' (Daniel Boyd, artist statement, Bulgari Prize).

In 2015, Boyd was commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to contribute to the Anzac Centenary Print Portfolio. In 2018 he was commissioned with Edition Office architects to produce the major sculptural work, For our Country, installed in the Memorial’s sculpture garden, that commemorates the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women throughout history.