Before time Began

BRUSSELS—The Musée Art & Histoire de Bruxelles is presenting a comprehensive exhibition devoted to Aboriginal art, Before Time Began, which will remain on view until May 29, 2022.

This event, a first for the institution, is consistent with the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire’s (MRAH) newly stated objective of highlighting the diversity of the world’s artistic styles in both past and present societies.

The exhibition was produced by the Fondation Opale in Lens, Switzerland, which has, since its founding in 2018, distinguished itself by its efforts to promote Australian Aboriginal art and culture and which lent most of the objects works displayed in the show.

The installation begins with an examination of the Aboriginal material environment, and the objects on view include shields, boomerangs, spear throwers, and funerary posts lent by various Dutch and Belgian museums. It continues with an exploration of the Dreaming and creation, and how those phenomena are transposed into two dimensions in paintings on bark. The birth of contemporary art and the use of canvas and commercial pigments, as well as the use of photography and video, are also examined.

In all, the presentation highlights the originality and variety of the voices that constitute the Aboriginal contemporary art scene.

Before time Began

Until May 25, 2022

Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels

ABOVE: Collaborative work by women artists, Women’s Law alive in our Country, 2018.
Acrylic on canvas. 290 x 550 cm.
© Vincent Girier-Dufournier / Fondation Opale.

Installation views of Before Time Began.
@ Musée Art & Histoire, Brussels.