UK’s first Aboriginal-owned art gallery to open in Bristol

Wiradjuri-British artist Jasmine Coe will launch a pop-up gallery in Bristol this summer to celebrate the work of Aboriginal artists. 

Coe Gallery will be Britain’s first indigenous-owned Aboriginal art gallery. It is named for the artist’s father, Paul Coe, an activist involved in campaigns for Aboriginal justice and land rights.

“My art becomes a place where I can learn about the history of my culture and what my family have stood for,” Ms. Coe told the BBC.

She decided to open the gallery in Bristol to highlight the city’s connection to colonialism in Australia.

“Bristol is a city that has its own traumatic colonial history where the historical narrative is now being shifted,” she said. “I believe there is space for the indigenous experience to be heard and to share in how colonialism continues to affect indigenous communities across the world.”

The gallery will hold exhibitions in a pop-up space, with the support of Bridging Histories and the University of Bristol, while Ms. Coe searches for a permanent venue.

Artists scheduled to exhibit include Sandon Gibbs-O’Neill, an Aboriginal artist from Australia.

He told the BBC that it’s important for indigenous artists “to have control over our own narrative”. The new art space will show that Aboriginal communities are “not just surviving, we’re actually thriving,” he said.