2025 Tarnanthi Festival to Launch With First Nations Hip Hop Supergroup 3% and Tarnanthi Art Fair

The 2025 Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art will launch on Thursday, October 16, with a free open-air performance by ARIA Award-winning First Nations hip hop collective 3% on the North Terrace forecourt of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA).

The launch will feature a Kaurna Welcome to Country, a keynote by Professor Megan Davis AC, and a headline performance from 3% (Angus Field, Corey Webster aka Nooky, and Dallas Woods), whose powerful blend of hip hop, pop, and storytelling draws on the culture and lived experiences of First Nations people.

Marking its tenth anniversary, Tarnanthi will present Too Deadly: Ten Years of Tarnanthi at AGSA, assembling more than 200 landmark works acquired into the gallery’s collection since the festival’s inception. Curated by Artistic Director Nici Cumpston OAM, the exhibition recontextualizes important works and highlights the artistic excellence of First Nations artists from across Australia.

Festival Highlights

The 2025 Tarnanthi Festival will feature 30 exhibitions and events across 24 partner venues statewide, including:

• The Colleano Heart (Adelaide Film Festival, Oct. 19): A world-premiere documentary by Pauline Clague uncovering the hidden Aboriginal ancestry of a circus family.

• Two Blood (Australian Dance Theatre at The Odeon, Norwood): A multidisciplinary work of film, music, and movement exploring a forbidden love story.

• The Blak Laundry (AGSA Courtyard): An installation by Ngugi Quandamooka artist Libby Harward and Gamilaroi artist Dominique Chen, transforming public space into a working laundromat and community gathering place.

• The Ku Arts Symposium and additional panels on First Nations art writing, editing, and publishing.

The festival centerpiece Tarnanthi Art Fair will return October 17–18 at a new venue, Union House at Adelaide University, featuring more than 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art centres and thousands of works for sale. Every purchase directly supports artists and their community-run art centres, generating vital economic benefits.