The Art Of Australia

Strangers In A Strange Land tells the story of how art helped European settlers come to terms with an unfamiliar land, and how ignoring 60,000 years of indigenous culture, they saw the place through a distorted European lens, until a uniquely Australian impressionism emerged that reflected the emergence of a distinctive national identity and an independent nation.

The second episode, Coming Of Age, explores how Australia identity evolved in the 20th century and how modern art down under struggled to emerge. As modern artists expressed both the dreams and the demons of this new nation, they met with decades of disapproval from the old guard.

In the third installment, Beyond Australia, Edmund Capon explores how, since the 1960s , Australia and its art went global. Transformed into a migrant nation, Australia's dependence on Britain ended and artists played a huge role in shaping the new Australia at first they adopted American abstraction before a far more ancient art form from the heart of the continent indigenous art emerged. It became Australia's instantly recognizable calling card.