Trevor Nickolls was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1949. He first exhibited as a student and gained a Diploma of Fine Art from the South Australian School of Art in 1972. One of his teachers was the printmaker Franz Kempf. In 1978 he undertook a diploma in education which enabled him to work as a school art teacher. In 1979, when undertaking postgraduate studies at the Victorian College of the Arts he met the Papunya artist Dinny Nolan. He later described this as a turning point in his art, and in his life as Nolan mentored him in gaining an understanding of the directions his art could take.
The following year, after graduating with a postgraduate diploma of painting, he was appointed an education officer. This meant that he was able to travel through the Northern Territory, meeting artists and coming to see how modern the ancient techniques could appear to be.
His own art changed to incorporate his new understanding of a changing tradition of Aboriginal art.
In the 1980s he lived in both Sydney and Melbourne, and began to paint the awkward duality of the changing perception. It was the works of the 1980s, that showed the awkwardness and pain of Aboriginal people responding to a rapidly changing world and the growth of industrialisation, which finally brought him widespread critical acclaim. He coined the catch phrase, “Dreamtime to Machinetime” to sum up both the dilemma and the response. Dreamtime is the harmonious connection to nature and ancient traditions, while Machinetime is the trap of the modern confined life.
In 1990 Nickolls joined Rover Thomas to become the first Aboriginal artists to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale. His work was widely collected by many institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
He was well aware of the gifts that art could bring. His last gift was to establish the Trevor Nickolls Art Award for Aboriginal artists can undertake studies at art school.
After his death, his friend the artist Vernon Ah Kee wrote: “For Blackfellas like me, the work of Trevor Nickolls, in the 1970s and ‘80s was a visual language that gave voice to the confusion and complexity around the identity politics of the times. As a visual artist, he gave voice to our frustration and anger at our powerlessness and our invisibility like no artist before had.”
On 17 November 2012 the Art Gallery of South Australia held a public commemoration of his life.
- Writers:
- Allas, Tess
- Date written:
- 2011
- Last updated:
- 2013
