May & Doreen Chapman

We’re celebrating the borderless creative thinking of Aboriginal and First Nations artists with a new initiative. Discover transformative, immersive experiences from artists who are facilitating the most important conversations of our time. 

Now in its third year, Boorloo Contemporary brings together First Nations artists making, questioning and reshaping contemporary art in bold and unexpected ways. The program champions ambitious new ideas and gives artists the opportunity to experiment across form, places and scale. From major public works to intimate exhibitions, Boorloo Contemporary brings First Nations contemporary art into unexpected spaces across the city.

Kait James’ Blak Flags is back, while John Prince Siddon takes the Power Station Commission into its next chapter. Kwop Ben returns with a takeover of Boorloo Bridge, alongside a series of exhibitions, commissions and presentations across Perth’s galleries and arts spaces.

Together, these works reflect the breadth of First Nations contemporary practice today – ambitious, playful, challenging, deeply personal and always evolving.

Mayiwalku (Maywokka) Chapman
May was born in the bush and lived traditionally until 1966, when she and her sisters walked out of the desert after a severe drought. One of Martumili's pioneering artists, her bold, gestural paintings map her ngurra (home Country) — the waterholes, plants and Jukurrpa (Dreaming) of the salt lake regions around Punmu, Kunawarritji and Karlamilyi. Now in her 80s, she lives and paints in Warralong with her daughter, Doreen. She recently won the Jury Art Prize, and her work is held in major collections including the National Museum of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Doreen Chapman
Doreen, born at Jigalong Mission in the early 1970s, is renowned for her vibrant, expressive style and poignant depictions of Martu life. A deaf artist, she paints as a vital mode of communication, rendering traditional culture and contemporary experience with raw immediacy. She has been a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (2024) and the Lester Prize (2016, 2019, 2025), and has won the Cossack Art Award for Best Painting by an Indigenous Artist three times. In 2024, she was the only artist invited to exhibit across all six venues of the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Ten Thousand Suns.