Big Weather is a timely exhibition that recognises the sophisticated appreciation of weather systems that exists within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge. Bringing together a significant selection of works drawn from the NGV Indigenous Collection,  Big Weather  shares stories of creation to illustrate how landscapes were formed and sacred waterways are refreshed and refilled.

The exhibition showcases works by artists from diverse Indigenous communities with many presenting unique interpretations of ancestral spirit beings who summon the rain, hail and seasonal storms that feed into our rivers, revive the landscape and nourish wildlife. By acknowledging weather systems as indicators of change across different landscapes, we are able to look further at the idea of change across many facets of our lives, how change affects us, how we adapt and how knowledge of the past can inform our shared future.

Art is an important instrument for the exchange of cultural information, by documenting stories and monitoring specific environments, we learn about the cyclical nature of the Australian landscape. Through creative expression, we can discuss the delicate balance of our living and breathing planet and the consequences of fires and storms as well as the ever-present dread of climate change. 

Weather systems are a key way of understanding entire ecologies, based on the intimate cultural knowledge passed down by Ancestors and continued through relationships with Country that have been refined over generations. This foundational understanding of our diverse ecosystems is imperative for our future survival. Big Weather tells an important story through a diverse offering of work that reflects the wide-ranging nature of contemporary Indigenous art as represented in the NGV Indigenous Collection.