Darren Siwes

Darren Siwes (born 1968) is an Australian artist of Indigenous and Dutch descent. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia.

Siwes completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons), (1996) and a Graduate Diploma of Education (1997) at the University of South Australia.

Siwes has a unique style of photographing familiar South Australian landmarks, and using long exposure to reveal the ghostly figure of an Aboriginal man in a suit and tie onto the image. More recently he has used female figures in this same style. Siwes' work is political in this sense. He says he is inspired by contemporary Indigenous Australian artists such as Tracey Moffatt and Gordon Bennett, and is interested in exploring the possibilities of Aboriginal art in new forms and new media.

Siwes is represented by Greenaway Art Gallery in Adelaide and Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne.

Awards 2002, Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship

Individual exhibitions 2001, Misperceptions, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide, Nellie Caston Gallery, Melbourne 1997, Fall, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane 1997, Horizon Scenes, University of California, Irvine Gallery, Los Angeles 1996, Castles in the Air, Metro Galleries, Brisbane 1996, Natural Alibis, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

Selected group exhibitions 2001, ARCO (Arte Contemporáneo) World Art Fair, Madrid 2000, Across, Canberra School of Art Gallery, Canberra 2000, State of My Country: a survey of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney 2000, Chemistry, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 2000, Beyond the Pale: Adelaide Biennial of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 1999, Living Here & Now: Art & Politics, Australian Perspecta Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1998, 15th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, and touring 1998, Three Views of Kaurna Territory Now, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide 1996, Guddhabungan, Jabal Centre, Australian National University, Canberra

Collections Art Gallery of South Australia Artbank