Dylan

Won’t be posting tomorrow so I’ll do it today Abolish the date! Tear it down! On January 26th think about what your 'celebration' is doing to others. This is not a day for people to celebrate their apparent 'culture' at the expense of anothers. We all still suffer this madnesss we call so called Australia, even the sound of our cries are not heard & they expect us to join in their gammin celebrations. NO THANKS. Always was, Always will be. ✊🏾💯

5TH NATIONAL INDIGENOUS ART TRIENNIAL: ‘AFTER THE RAIN’ 🌧️ It’s been a great journey in pushing myself in creating & developing new works this year. A big thank you to @tonyalbert for all your hard work in bringing the Triennial to life with your vision and all your help this past year. And a big thank you to @n.smithgallery team for all your support on this journey. And another thank you to my friends and family who made the trip down to Canberra for the opening, really do appreciate it 💙 And to be alongside other amazing Indigenous Artists is truly special, congratulations to all the Artists involved. Hope you all get to see the exhibition at the @nationalgalleryaus it is open from 6 December 2025 - 26 April 2026

I feel very honoured to have been invited to participate in this years 24th @biennalesydney . I was commissioned to create a new work of First Narions Activist and dancer Malcolm Cole. Malcolm Cole was a pre-eminent innovator of contemporary dance who conceived of the design, along with artist Panos Couros, for the 1988 Indigenous float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Dressed as Captain Cook, the queer Aboriginal and South Sea Islander man blazed a trail at the parade against the backdrop of Australia’s bicentenary and a celebration of the nation’s convict past. Was a lovely journey working with Uncle Robert Cole a Malcolm’s identical twin to bring this work to life, listening to his stories of Malcolm and then being able to march beside him as he dressed up in Captain Cook outfit in the memorilodation of Malcolm’s story 36 years ago Malcolm was larger than life and this 17 metre mural really celebrates his huge story and personality.💙🎉 A big thank you to everyone who was involved! Thank you to the Artistic directors @intiatawalpa & @cosmincostinas and huge thank you to @tonyalbert for your amazing work with @fondationcartier 💗

It was great to be part of @qcadcaia Pep Talk series, being able to come@back @as an Alumni and speak to the students. Thank you to all who came along. ✨ Pep Talks is a series of conversations with some of QCAD’s most inspiring alumni about how they transitioned from student to artist, and the advice they wish they’d heard along the way!

FREE Online Workshop Sun 12th Apr 2026, 2pm AEST 90 mins | All are welcome. No experience required. Link in bio This workshop uses the medium of drawing to express personal identity and connections to communities, inspired Mooney’s own vibrant visual language. Led by Mooney and National Gallery First Nations Learning Convenor Maggie Douglas, Kabi Kabi people, participants will create their own works using digital drawing software or pencils and paper. Mooney’s practice is the meeting point of cultural history, lived experience and digital creativity. Legally blind, he works primarily on backlit screens, creating luminous, richly detailed portraits that honour resilience, queer love and the strength of First Nations peoples and people of colour. His installation Resilience in Bloom, featured in After the Rain, weaves together personal and political narratives grounded in community and Country. An early career artist whose work has already been widely exhibited, collected and published, Mooney brings an optimistic and deeply connected perspective to contemporary art. Dylan Mooney, Yuwi people, Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait and South Sea Islander, Growing in strength + pride, 2021 © Dylan Mooney, courtesy the artist and N.Smith Gallery Dylan Mooney, Yuwi people, Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait and South Sea Islander, Blak + Deadly, 2021 © Dylan Mooney, courtesy the artist and N.Smith Gallery Dylan Mooney, Yuwi people, Zenadth Kes/Torres Strait and South Sea Islander, Love and legacy, 2025 © Dylan Mooney, courtesy the artist and N.Smith Gallery

#HighColour @dylanmooney__ High Colour is curated from the Art Gallery's rich collection of First Nations art to consider colour through both local and global Indigenous perspectives, bringing these works into vivid and dynamic dialogue. The exhibition responds to the growing international practice of presenting diverse First Nations artists together to explore shared experiences of Indigeneity. It demonstrates the role colour plays in expressing contemporary Indigenous identities, as well as its use as a form of categorisation. Featuring artists connected to Aotearoa New Zealand Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the United States of America, Tonga, Turtle Island/Canada, Vanuatu and Venezuela, High Colour reveals how specific designs and cultural practices rendered in immersive and emotive colour can be transformative magical and spiritual.

#HighColour @dylanmooney__ High Colour is curated from the Art Gallery's rich collection of First Nations art to consider colour through both local and global Indigenous perspectives, bringing these works into vivid and dynamic dialogue. The exhibition responds to the growing international practice of presenting diverse First Nations artists together to explore shared experiences of Indigeneity. It demonstrates the role colour plays in expressing contemporary Indigenous identities, as well as its use as a form of categorisation. Featuring artists connected to Aotearoa New Zealand Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the United States of America, Tonga, Turtle Island/Canada, Vanuatu and Venezuela, High Colour reveals how specific designs and cultural practices rendered in immersive and emotive colour can be transformative magical and spiritual.

#HighColour @dylanmooney__ High Colour is curated from the Art Gallery's rich collection of First Nations art to consider colour through both local and global Indigenous perspectives, bringing these works into vivid and dynamic dialogue. The exhibition responds to the growing international practice of presenting diverse First Nations artists together to explore shared experiences of Indigeneity. It demonstrates the role colour plays in expressing contemporary Indigenous identities, as well as its use as a form of categorisation. Featuring artists connected to Aotearoa New Zealand Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the United States of America, Tonga, Turtle Island/Canada, Vanuatu and Venezuela, High Colour reveals how specific designs and cultural practices rendered in immersive and emotive colour can be transformative magical and spiritual.

We are thrilled to share Aurora's 2025 Artwork created by Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander artist, @dylanmooney__ titled "Roots of Resilience". Dylan's practice spans across painting, printmaking, digital illustration and drawing and is deeply influenced by history, culture and family. Armed with a rich cultural upbringing, Mooney now translates the knowledge and stories passed down to him through art. On the artwork "Roots of Resilience", Dylan shared: "This work celebrates the deep connections between Country, culture, and community. Through native plants, vibrant butterflies, and guiding hands, it honours the resilience and strength of Indigenous people across time. The composition reflects the growth and hard work of ancestors, the knowledge they carried, and the way that knowledge has been carefully nurtured and passed on to future generations. The intertwining of flora and symbolic motifs embodies continuity, survival, and renewal, reminding us that the spirit of culture endures, rooted firmly in the land and blossoming into the present day." Each year, Aurora commissions a First Nations artist to create an artwork that becomes the backbone across our publications, social media, and communications for the year. We are so incredibly grateful for your beautiful work Dylan, thank you!

Have really been getting into living world meets different dimensions - between realms ✨

“I got involved with a climate change campaign around three years ago… called Our Islands Our Home @ourislandsourhome . They brought me on as an artist to help amplify the voices that are up there in the front lines. Art has an amazing way of turning people’s perspectives and seeing a new angle in life that maybe they could not see somewhere else.” @dylanmooney__ Watch NAVA’s latest Artist File with Dylan Mooney on @nava_visualarts reels or our website. 📸 Dylan Mooney, photo by Ochre Lens @ochrelensbyvenita , 2025. ID: Photo of Dylan Mooney sitting in his studio in front of a computer displaying one of his artworks which is a portrait featuring two faces.

NAVA Artist File: Dylan Mooney Dylan Mooney @dylanmooney__ is a Yuwi, Torres Strait and South Sea Islander artist working across painting, printmaking, digital illustration and drawing. In this video, Mooney reflects on using his art to amplify queer, Indigenous voices and respond to climate change, and how NAVA’s Code of Practice supports his work and practice. Video production by Atypical @atypical_creative_studio #NAVAmember #NAVAArtistFile NAVA acknowledges the Gadigal and Wangal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which this was filmed and pay respects to First Nations communities’ ancestors and Elders. Sovereignty was never ceded.