Harry Wedge

Harry J. Wedge painted forthright images of his experiences of life at Erambie mission, Cowra, in the heart of Wiradjuri country. He studied photography and then painting at Eora TAFE in Sydney's Redfern in the late 1980s, soon finding that painting in acrylic was a better-suited means of expression.

Wedge was part of the Sydney art collective, Boomalli and worked with artists Ian Abdulla and Elaine Russell who also painted their experiences of growing up on missions.

In 1992 Wedge held the solo exhibition, 'Wiradjuri Spirit Man', at Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Adelaide. A monograph on the artist, titled 'Wiradjuri Spirit Man' was published in 1996, featuring a series of images accompanied by transcribed stories.

Wedge was included in 'Australian Perspecta' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1993 and in the same year held a residency at the gallery where he produced the work 'Stop and think', 1993.

Other important exhibitions for the artist include the Boomalli touring exhibition 'True Colours: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists Raise the Flag', 1994 curated by Hetti Perkins and Brenda L. Croft. Wedge's major triptych 'Taken over the environment', 2002 was exhibited in the Biennale of Sydney in 2002.

His work is represented in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Queensland Art Gallery collections.