Nici CUMPSTON OAM

Nici Cumpston OAM is a Barkindji photographer who creates hand-coloured images of significant cultural landscapes along the Murray and Darling Rivers. Her family is of Aboriginal, Afghan, English and Irish descent and she spent part of her childhood in Canada. Cumpston graduated and taught at UniSA South Australian School of Art before becoming Artistic Director of Tarnanthi, working at the forefront of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Cumpston’s creative endeavours have resulted in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally.  

In 2020, Queen’s Birthday Honours awarded Cumpston the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for ‘service to the museums and galleries sector, and to Indigenous art.'