Art Aid Gallery

An Artist Driven Social Enterprise

Project
Pop-Up Gallery
Sydney & Melbourne

SMOKING CEREMONY

Uncle Matthew Doyle

MURAL

CLAIRE FOXTON

PHOTOGRAPHER

Kiera Chevell
Sally Clark

Key Supporters
Mirvac
Placemaking NSW
Eddie Zammit
GPT Group

Art Aid pop-up gallery plays host to some of the most exciting urban and contemporary artists in Australia and internationally with a social enterprise model enables artists to make, exhibit, and sell their art while at the same time ensuring each purchase makes a positive imprint on the planet.

The Rocks, Sydney.

In October 2021, ART AID launched our second pop-up gallery, this time in The Rocks.

For the Art Aid gallery exclusively, we asked artist Claire Foxton to create an immersive experience for our audience. Her murals, which can be found throughout Australia, New Zealand and the US, are concerned with the truth of a place and its people – the everyday heroes who help realise their communities. Strongly process-driven, her approach to abstract forms is responsive and immediate. This energetic, colourful visual space is kept in tension with her critical realist portraiture and the careful planning required to execute large-scale public art. Her works teeter on the edge of control and intuition, guided by her roots in Design and influenced by characteristics of Abstract Expressionism.

To launch our space in October, we were fortunate to have Uncle Matthew, a descendent of the Muruwari Aboriginal nation from North-West NSW, perform a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony. The Welcome to Country acknowledged the Ancestors, Elders and Spirits of the land/country our gallery is on, and the Custodians and Traditional owners, as well as connecting our team and guests to the first people’s and country through participation and engaging in the Welcome. Uncle Matthew performed the smoking ceremony to cleanse the gallery and people within it, clearing negative energy and introducing positive energy. 

HOW DOES ART AID WORK?

With each artwork sold, buyers can choose how their purchase will create real change. By selecting a cause that is personal or powerful to them at the checkout, 1/3 of the profits of the sale will go to that cause. So far, we’ve raised over $60,000.

In early 2021, we teamed up with a select group of charities and not-for-profit organisations that make a real difference locally and globally. We have done our homework, and our charity partners have a proven track record, make the most impact and truly make the world a better place. From placing books in the laps of children in remote communities, protecting endangered and culturally sensitive rainforests, championing LGBTQIA+ voices, delivering emergency aid to where it is needed most, and educating and empowering women in the most poverty-stricken communities, they’re covering a vast range of important issues.