Last night I had a fabulous time in Stockholm. A few weeks ago, I received an invitation from the Australian ambassador to be his guest at the opening of the exhibition Kiripuranji, which is of contemporary art from the Tiwi Islands. This exhibition is on in Stockholm until November 8th. I love indigenous art and so I readily agreed to attend. At the time the Nynäshamn to Stockholm night train service was a bit flaky (as I mentioned a couple of blogs ago), but I thought I'd chance it.

My first question was of course, "Where are these Tiwi Islands?". Hands up you Aussies who wondered the same thing. Yes, I thought so - and the rest of you stop cheating by googling. Aunty Marie is here to show you where they are:



As you can see, just north of Darwin. Crocodile territory.

Actually, Richard Rowe was kind enough to include an information sheet with the invitation so that I didn't look like a complete idiot. I learned that Tiwi means We people and that the culture and language of these islands is unique - unlike anything in the Torres Straits or on the mainland. See, you can learn new things things about Australia even here in Sweden.

The party (and indeed the actual exhibition) was held at the Etnografiska Museet on Djurgårdsbrunnsvägen. It's across the road from Kaknästornet (The Cookie Peninsular Tower). As the darkness falls rather quickly at this time of the year, it was eerie to look across the waters to Djurgården in the early evening gloom.



That amazing, renaissance looking castle you can see is Nordiska Museet, a wonderful, extravagant museum portraying everyday life in Sweden from the 1520's to the present day. A veritable feast for the eyes. But I'm beginning to sound like a tour guide and I'm digressing.

I fought my way through the sea of cars bearing diplomatic numberplates and came into the museum, to be greeted by the ambassador himself. I was floored that he remembered my name. Without any prompting, or me having to slip him a 100kr note. Sure, I've met him a few times but he must meet hundreds of Australians here. I was very impressed, anyway. I've got a lot of time for him as he really does seem to take an interest in the expat community here and also likes to raise the profile of Australia in Sweden.

The place was jam packed with both the usual diplomats, some people from the arts and media, some Swedes and quite a healthy number of Australians. They were easy to spot as they stayed close to the buffet tables. The wine and food flowed and we looked at the beautiful art work. The word Kiripuranji is a Tiwi word meaning clever with our hands and that is no exaggeration. If you look at the website here, you can download the catalogue and have a peep at the stunning art (especially the silk screens). There is also a touring calendar, so you can see when it will be on at a gallery near you.

It was interesting that this particular exhibition should be on in Stockholm at the moment, as the museum had only recently been in the news for returning to the Gunditjmara tribe some skeletons that had been smuggled out of Australia earlier this century.

There were speeches and a great interactive performance by the irrepressible Gavin (always a hit). I circulated, chatted to people and had a lovely social evening.

Today has been cool and slightly wet, though the colours still continue to shine through.



One disadvantage to taking a long autumn walks with Lambi, though, is that she's scared of leaves. Can you believe it? I do have some sympathy for her - it must be hard to be so small and have those evil looking leaves attack you in the street, as though they were out to make a hit. She acts like the leaves are armed with leaf bullets and that each bullet has her name written on it.

What a scaredy cat.