Clinton Naina (Meriam Mir/Ku Ku)
Born 1971, lives Melbourne
EDUCATION
2001–03 Master of Fine Arts (Research), College of Fine Arts, University of
New South Wales, Sydney
1992–94 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Victorian College of the Arts, The University
of Melbourne
1990–91 Advanced Certificate of the Arts, Northern Metropolitan College of
TAFE
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
His Colony, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2021
Stolen Unknown, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2019
Painting the Town Blak: Clinton Naina, Yarra City Arts, Richmond Town Hall,
Melbourne
Passive Aggressive – Power, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2018
Passive Aggressive – Warpaint, Art Atrium, Bondi Junction, Sydney
2016
Passive Aggressive – Dream, Art Atrium, Sydney
2014
REACH, Wyndham Art Gallery, Melbourne
2013
NAIN, fortyfive downstairs, Melbourne
2011
Blue Stone, Blak Flowers, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
Mao & I, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
2010
Blak Flowers and Tumbleweed, Mossgreen Gallery, Melbourne
2009
Re’dress, Grant Pirrie Gallery, Sydney
2008
Resistance to Resilience, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2007
Hurdy Gurdy (Wrong Way Around), Sherman Galleries, Sydney
2006
A E I O U, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2005
Clinton Nain, Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
The Dirty Deal Ain’t Clean, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
2004
You Never Said Thank You, 138 Lygon Street, Brunswick, Melbourne
2003
Living Under the Bridge, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Clinton Nain, Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin
2001
Whitens, Removes Stains, Kills Germs, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
2000
White King Blak Queen, Brisbane Powerhouse, Live Arts, Brisbane
The Bleach is Blak, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Heritage Colours, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
1999
Seven Days Seven Nights of Blak Magic, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
It Reigns White King, Midsumma, Platform 2, The Thin Line, Melbourne
Big Yellow Cloud, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne Festival, Melbourne
1998
Aboriginal Embassy 1972, 4th National Indigenous Heritage Art Award
Brilliant Blackness, Open Season Gallery, Melbourne
Over My Blak Body, Lavender Nights, Melbourne
1997
Pitched Blak, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1996
Nambundah Festival Exhibition, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
CURATED AND AWARD EXHIBITIONS
2025
The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Art,
Washington, Denver Art Museum, Colorado, Portland Art Museum, Oregon, Essex
Museum, Massachusetts, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
1964, 1969, 1977, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2025 (curated by Helen
Hughes and Spiros Panigirakis, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne
2024
Shortlisted, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (Telstra NATSIAA),
Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin
Porter St Launch, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2023
XV: PAST PRESENT FUTURE, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
2022
Sydney Contemporary art fair, Carriageworks, Sydney
Finalist, Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Melbourne
Queer, National Gallery of Victoria
2021
Big Weather, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Mutable Ecologies, RMIT University, curated by Kristen Sharp, Philip
Samartzis and Andrew Tetzlaff, Online Exhibition. www.mutable-ecologies.com/en
2020
The Koorie Art Show, Koorie Heritage Trust, Yarra Building, Melbourne
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Tanks Art Centre, Cairns, Queensland
2019
Drowning not Waving, Wyndham Art Gallery, Victoria
2018
Colony: Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2017
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Sydney
Seeing Voices, Monash University of Arts Collection, Monash University
2016
Sovereignty, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
The China Dream Exhibition, Beijing Museum of Visual Art, Beijing, China
2015
End of Year Exhibition, Art Atrium, Bondi Junction, Sydney
Bungaree’s Farm, Curated by Djon Mundine (OAM), Cairns Indigenous Art Fair,
Tanks Art Centre, Cairns.
Passive Aggressive, Cairns Cruise Liner, Shed 3, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair,
Cairns
2014
Show Time, The Art Collection of Arts Centre, Arts Centre, Melbourne.
Blak Wave, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne.
Art Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
2013
TOGART Contemporary Art Award, Darwin
2012
KIAF (Korean International Art Fair), South Korea
Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (Alcaston Gallery), Cairns
Melbourne Art Fair (Alcaston Gallery), Melbourne
Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong
Alcaston at Depot Gallery, Sydney
2011
Reclaimed: Contemporary Australian Art, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Land, Sea and Sky Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands, Queensland
Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)
Pink Sunrise, Boomalli Gallery, Sydney.
Boots : Rule 30, Michael Long Foundation, N.G.V. AFL, Melbourne.
Wattle : Australian Contemporary Art Show, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Show at Heiser Gallery, Fortitude Valley Queensland.
Show at Mossgreen Gallery Toorak Melbourne.
New Acquisitions in Council Arts & Heritage Collection, City of Yarra,
Richmond Town Hall, Melbourne.
2010
Gayme, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Victoria.
2009
Just Can’t Get Enough, Linden Gallery St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts.
2008
The Coloured Digger Exhibition, ANZAC DAY, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney.
In a Different Light, Artists Portrayed, Sonia Payes, Monash Gallery of Art,
Melbourne
Hand in Hand, Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-Operative Performance Space at
Carriageworks Acon, Aboriginal Project Exhibition for the 2008 Sydney Gay &
Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival.
Lives and Times, NGV travelling exhibition, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo,
Victoria
Lines In The Sand Botany Bay Stories From 1770, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
and Arts Centre, Sutherland Shire.
The Rug Project 2008, Designer Rugs/Auction, Alexandria Industrial Estate,
Sydney
Leading Lights, Ivan Dougherty Gallery UNSW, College of Fine Arts, Sydney
2007
Power and Beauty, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Celebrating Aboriginal Rights, curator Rhonda Davis, Macquarie University
Art Gallery, Sydney
2006
Landmarks, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Dancelines: Contemporary Indigenous Art x Bangarra Dance Theatre,
Arts Centre Melbourne, curated by Marita Smith
2005
Paper Chase, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
L’art urbain du Pacifique, Saint-Auvent Castle, Limosin, France
Bleak Epiphanies: an exhibition of small black things, Virginia Wilson Art
in association with William Wright Artists’ Projects, Sydney
2004
One Of: Festivus 04, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
Masters of COFA, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Our Place: Indigenous Australia Now, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Art & Champagne, Friends of the Art Gallery of New South Wales Research
Library and Archive, Australian Galleries, Sydney (fundraiser)
Fundraising Event, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2003
Beneath the Monsoon: Visions North of Capricorn, Artspace, Mackay; Cairns
Regional Gallery, Cairns; Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, QLD
An Indigenous COFA Presence, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine Arts,
University of New South Wales, Sydney
2002
Group Exhibition, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
Artful Park, Centennial Parklands, Sydney
Gatherings, Queensland Indigenous Art Promotion Project, Brisbane Convention
and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane
What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,
Melbourne
Post Mullet: New Australian Style, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, College of Fine
Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Queer Family, Midsummer Festival, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2001
Bennet Nain Parr Tillers, Sherman Galleries Goodhope, Sydney
2000
The Art of Place, Old Parliament House, Canberra
Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
Goin’, Goin’, Gone, fundraising exhibition for lesbian and gay anti-violence
project, Lizard Lounge Arts Space, Sydney
Beyond the Pale: Contemporary Indigenous Art, curator Brenda Croft, 2000
Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, AGSA, Adelaide
1999-03
We Are Australian, George Adams Gallery, Melbourne then touring to regional galleries around Australia
1999
Stolen, World Vision Australia, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney
Walkabout Gallery Exhibition, Paddington Town Hall, Sydney
The Art of Place, Old Parliament House, Canberra
Fiction Factory, Project Space, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,
Melbourne
Mapping Our Countries, Djamu Gallery, Sydney
1998-99
Ilan Pasin (This is Our Way): Torres Strait Art, two-year touring of Australia
and the Pacific: Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns; Perc Tucker Regional Gallery,
Townsville; The Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; Tandanya: National
Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane;
Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, Campbelltown; National Archives of
Australia, Canberra
1998
One Night Only, exhibition of new work by Melbourne artists, Stripp Gallery,
Melbourne
Natives Dancing, Dream Run, Quality Street, Fresh & Blood, A Sydney
Story 1788–1988, Museum of Sydney, Sydney
Black Roots, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists’ Co-op, Sydney
Urban Dreaming Different Meaning, Project Space, Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology, Melbourne
Pauline Hansen – Co-Existence Australian Artists Against Racism, Hogarth
Galleries, Sydney
1997
I Had a Dream: Australian Art in the 1960s, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne
More than a Piece of Paper, Graduate Centre, The University of Melbourne
1967–1997: 30 Years On, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
Primavera 1997, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1996
Bay Watch, Grand Central Gallery, Melbourne
Next Wave Festival Exhibition, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
We Iri-We Homeborn, Grand Central Gallery, Melbourne
1995
Blak City Culture, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne,
three-year national travelling exhibition
New Faces New Directions, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
Dja Dja Wrung Womin-Je-Ku-Werreneen (William Bit: Welcome to our Homeland),
Bendigo Arts Festival, Bendigo, VIC
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Week, St Francis Church,
Melbourne
Art of the Men, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne
1994
Blak City Culture, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
Power of the Land, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1993
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Exhibition, World Trade
Centre, New York
Duality: A World Within a World, Melbourne Fringe Festival
1992
Koori Art Exhibition, Royal Melbourne Show, Melbourne
Koori Arts Exhibition, La Trobe University Art Museum, Melbourne
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Week, 101 Collins Street,
Melbourne, sponsored by Contemporary Australian Visions
Kitch’en Koori, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Melbourne
1990
Fringe Festival Multi-Media Exhibition, Melbourne
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia; Art Gallery of South Australia; National
Gallery of Victoria; Queensland Art Gallery; The Australian Museum; Flinders
University Art Museum; Northern Metropolitan College of TAFE; The University of
Melbourne; Victorian College of the Arts; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Council; Adelaide Festival Centre Foundation; City of Port Phillip; Wesfarmers;
BHP Billiton; DNA Design Nation Pty Ltd; Arthur and Susie Roe Collection; HRA
& Associates; Rio Tinto; Jean-Marie Tijbou Cultural Centre, Noumea
Full CV available on request. Email marita@gallerysmith.com.au
