‘Steel Karkade’ by Maree Nikimaya

08 Apr 2026 - 01 May 2026
11:00am - 05:00pm
FREE
First Site Gallery | Storey Hall Basement, 344 Swanston Street, Melbourne

'Steel Karkade' showcases the multifaceted experiences of Black women in the diaspora, as well as the artist’s South Sudanese heritage. For her, the livelihoods and narratives of her ancestors and the Black women who came before her are significantly underrepresented and unwritten; her practice endeavours to bring light and permanence to their stories and cultural history.

In envisioning a timeless and historical scene that represents the ultimate expression of ancestral devotion and veneration, Maree Nikimaya brings together key ancestral figures, motifs, and archaeological iconography that meld into 'Steel Karkade'; an ode to afro-surrealism and Black spirituality.

Key figures in the work like the central veiled figure, modelled after her great aunt Amoweng, a witch doctor, are emblematic of the importance of preserving Nilotic indigenous spiritual practices that have roots in animism and in South Sudan.

Please join us to celebrate the opening of this exhibition at First Site Gallery, 5– 7pm, Wednesday 8 April. ⁠

Born in Lutruwita/Tasmania, Maree Nikimaya’s art practice is heavily influenced by the complexity and rich history of her South Sudanese background and afrosurrealism, the genre sublimely encapsulating the dark, exploitative, and bizarre but beautifully surreal multidimensional aspects of the Black experience. The impetus of Nikimaya’s practice is to utilise the afro-surreal genre, Black horror film influences and animism-based spirituality, to display the non-monolithic experiences of Black women in the diaspora and in her own cultural landscape of South Sudan and Sudan.

Image: Maree Nikimaya, ‘Steel Karkade’ (detail), 2025, oil on canvas. Image by Eliza Baker, courtesy of the artist.

Opening Hours

11am - 5pm Tuesday to Friday

Closed on public holidays

Related events

Aleksander Morris, 'Memory Tides'

25 Aug 2026 - 18 Sep 2026

'Memory Tides' is a series of paintings drawn from the artist’s family archive, using water as a metaphor for memory, movement and dislocation within the Jewish diaspora.

Stav Lampropoulou 'The Wandering Womb and Other Myths'

25 Aug 2026 - 18 Sep 2026

'The Wandering Womb and Other Myths' is an immersive exhibition that reimagines the myth of the “wandering womb” to examine and confront gendered histories that have systemically silenced women’s voices.

Jade Power, 'Wayfaring'

25 Aug 2026 - 18 Sep 2026

'Wayfaring' is a site-specific ceramic installation in which clay, weather and time act as collaborators, transforming cast porcelain forms into a shifting record of exposure, uncertainty and change.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

‘Steel Karkade’ by Maree Nikimaya