Tracing the art of a Stolen Generation, the child artists of Carrolup exhibition tells the remarkable story of Aboriginal children of Carrolup and their artworks that were sold in Europe – Netherlands and UK – in the early 1950s.
Kidnapped from their families by government authorities in the 1940s-’50s and held in ‘settlements’, the children’s situation became visible when their artworks came to the attention of the wider public of Western Australia.
An Englishwoman brought their artworks from Western Australia to the UK, exhibiting in Manchester amongst other places. The artworks and children’s story return to UK this year and are now at The Portico Library https://www.theportico.org.uk/whats-on in Manchester. Tracing the art of a Stolen Generation, the child artists of Carrolup https://jcg.curtin.edu.au/carrolup-archive/exhibitions/uk-tour/ is presented as part of the UK/Australia Season of Culture.
The exhibition is here to raise awareness of the Carrolup story and to find once-known children’s artworks sold in UK during the early 1950s. We hope to reconnect them with their descendant families as part of the healing journey for our Stolen Generations.
The exhibition is in the UK: The Portico Library, Manchester 7 July – 26 Sept then The Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow from 5 October to 11 November 2022.