A new exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum – titled We Bury Our Own ­– showcases the work of leading contemporary Aboriginal artist Christian Thompson, who is also one of the first two Aboriginal students to study at the University of Oxford in its history, studying for a DPhil in Fine Art. Curator of Photographs at the Pitt Rivers, Christopher Morton, invited the artist to make and exhibit a new body of work inspired by the Museum’s extensive historical collection of photographs from Australia, as part of an international research project. As the artist notes:

“I knew that this project would be a fantastic platform and unique opportunity to engage with the collection and to make a vital contribution to the cultural fabric of Oxford University, to create a new gateway to consider such material.”

Christian Thompson is a Bidjara man of the Kunja Nation from South West Queensland, although he can also trace his maternal heritage back into London and Oxfordshire.

According to Brian Catling, Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, the artist is “one of the brightest stars in the new firmament of Australia’s rising visual culture. In this exhibition, made while he is completing his DPhil at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, he exposes our assumptions and anxieties in a vivid mirrored lens.”

The eight large photographic self-portraits and video installation go on display in the Museum’s Long Gallery (ground floor) from 26 June 2012 until 3 January 2013. The exhibition is open 10–4.30 Tuesday to Sunday; 12–4.30 Monday. Admission is free.