Anniversary of Archie Moore’s Golden Lion for kith and kin

20 April

Content note: The artwork addresses loss, incarceration and deaths in custody. Linked exhibition material may include distressing histories and names of people who have died.

On 20 April 2024, Archie Moore’s kith and kin at the Australia Pavilion received the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennale. The anniversary celebrates a major achievement by a Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist, and the international recognition of First Nations art, knowledge and kinship.

What the award recognised

The Venice Biennale’s official jury awarded the national-participation prize to Australia for the pavilion featuring Moore’s installation. The category matters: this was the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, rather than the separate award for an individual artist in the main exhibition.

Creative Australia announced the result on 20 April 2024. The work was curated by Ellie Buttrose and commissioned by Creative Australia. Recognising that collaboration also leaves Moore’s authorship and artistic achievement clearly at the centre of the story.

The work behind the recognition

Moore transformed the pavilion with a monumental, hand-drawn family tree in chalk, reaching across the walls and ceiling. It brought family relationships into conversation with the long continuity of First Nations presence and with gaps in recorded history.

Official documents within the installation addressed the treatment of First Nations people by institutions. The work connected personal family histories with broader questions about memory, loss, power and responsibility. It should be encountered through the artist’s and curator’s explanations, rather than reduced to the fact that it won a prize.

Kinship and continuing knowledge

The installation’s title points towards relationships among people and with the living world. Moore’s comments on receiving the award emphasised care and responsibility within kinship. These ideas offer a richer starting point for learning than a simple competition ranking.

First Nations art is contemporary as well as historical. This anniversary can recognise an artist working on the world stage while drawing on particular family relationships, experiences and cultural knowledge. It should not suggest that international approval is what gives that work its value.

Ways to mark the anniversary

Read the Biennale’s award citation alongside Creative Australia’s exhibition information and Moore’s own words. Discuss how an artwork can communicate through scale, material, space and the things that remain absent or unrecorded.

Preview resources before sharing them, allow people to choose how deeply they engage with distressing histories, and follow reproduction permissions for artworks and photographs. This is an anniversary of the 2024 award, not a notice that the original exhibition remains open in Venice.

Sources and further reading

These resources provide original records, contemporary accounts and historical context. Linked collections may include names, images or voices of people who have died.

Biennale Arte 2024: official awards. La Biennale di Venezia. The jury’s award category and explanation of the Australia Pavilion.
Biennale Arte 2024: official awards

Archie Moore’s kith and kin wins Golden Lion. Creative Australia, 20 April 2024. The dated award announcement, artist’s comments, curator and commission.
Archie Moore’s kith and kin wins Golden Lion

2024 exhibition news and events. Creative Australia. The exhibition’s historical timeline and further material.
2024 exhibition news and events