Australia Council: Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups
Grant Application Support Material for Amy McQuire and Matt Chun
Artistic Support Material
Image 1
Amy and Matt’s bestselling picture book Day Break (2021), published by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing’s progressive imprint Bright Light, made a significant contribution to the decolonial discourse around Australian nationalist rituals and monuments.
Image 2
Selected internal spreads from Day Break. Text by Amy, drawings in watercolour and pencil by Matt.
Image 3
The Sunday Paper, a widely distributed print publication with a focus on Indigenous resistance and solidarity. Matt Chun is The Sunday Paper’s founding editor and publisher. Issue One of this publication featured an article by Amy (pictured). This project also featured drawings and design elements my Matt.
Image 3
Matt’s illustrations for Issue One of The Sunday Paper.
Image 4
A watercolour illustration from Matt’s collaborative history writing and art project UnMonumental alongside Kaurna artist James Tylor, launched in 2020 to examine and confront colonial misrepresentations of Australian history. To date, UnMonumental has partnered with Richard Bell’s Tent Embassy, Art Gallery of South Australia, The Sydney Opera House, Sydney Living Museums, Cordite Magazine and Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (The Kaurna Language Group).
Image 5
Australian Birds, Australian Sea Life, Australian Mammals and Australian Animals. Matt’s nonfiction art picture books, published by Little Hare Books.
Image 6
Selected spreads from Matt’s picture book Australian Birds, featuring pencil and watercolour artwork on paper / 2019.
Image 7
Coral / pencil and watercolour artwork on paper for Matt’s picture book Australian Sea Life / 2020
Image 8
Dingo / Matt’s pencil and watercolour artwork on paper for his picture book Australian Mammals / 2021
Image 9
One piece from Imagined Desecrations / a commissioned series of digital drawings and text for Runway Journal / Issue 42 / Archive.
Image 10
Details from Matt’s commissioned watercolour drawing for Great Southern Land, installed as a major component of a new permanent gallery at National Museum Australia.
Writing Sample 1
We must bear witness to black deaths in our own country
Amy’s essay for her site Presence, a platform for her independent Aboriginal rights based journalism.
Writing Sample 2
White justice, black suffering: Extracting false confessions
Amy’s essay for the Griffith Review. Finalist for the 2019 Walkley Award for Coverage of Indigenous Affairs Winner of the 2020 Clarion Award for Indigenous Issues Reporting
Writing Sample 3
Safe Passage
Matt’s commissioned essay for 4A Papers / 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.
Letters of support
Letter 1
Letter 2
Letter 3
Letter 4
Bios
Amy McQuire
Amy McQuire is a Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. She has 12 years’ experience working across a range of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal media organisations. Her writing has centred largely around policing and the brutality within the Australian justice system. She has an enduring interest in how the media covers violence within Aboriginal communities.
In 2009, McQuire moved from Queensland to Canberra to accept a position as Cadet Journalist with the National Indigenous Times. By taking up this position, she became the newspaper's first female editor and also their first Aboriginal editor. Amy is undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland. A collection of her essays and journalism has been acquired for publication by University of Queensland Press in 2024.
Amy was editor and senior writer of Tracker, a magazine published by the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. She has previously worked at the National Indigenous Times, NITV, New Matilda, and BuzzFeed and has written for a variety of publications, including Meanjin, the Griffith Review, New York Times, and Guardian Australia. She is also the co-host of the investigative podcast Curtain, which follows the case of an Aboriginal man wrongly accused of murder.
Amy is the author of Day Break (2021), illustrated by Matt Chun and published by Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing.
Matt Chun
Matt is a children’s author, artist and writer, based in Bermagui, Regional NSW, with an interest in colonialism and resistance histories. In addition to Day Break with Amy McQuire, Matt is also the creator of children’s nonfiction picture books: Australian Mammals (2020), Australian Sea Life (2019) and the CBCA awarded Notable Book Australian Birds (2018).
Matt also writes and creates artwork as one half of the collaborative history project UnMonumental, alongside contemporary Kaurna artist James Tylor. Launched in 2020 to examine and confront colonial misrepresentations of Australian history. To date, UnMonumental has partnered, presented and/or exhibited with Richard Bell’s Tent Embassy, Art Gallery of South Australia, The Sydney Opera House, Writers Victoria, Sydney Living Museums, Cordite Magazine and Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (The Kaurna Language Group).
Matt is also founding editor and publisher of The Sunday Paper, a print publication concerned with Indigenous solidarity and decolonial art and writing.
In 2022, Matt created a significant body of watercolour artwork as a permanent installation for National Museum Australia.
In 2020, Matt was awarded a research fellowship at State Library Victoria, examining representations of colonialism within Australian children’s literature.
Matt has created both art and written work for 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art as recipient of the 4A Travelling Writer’s Program. He has also written variously for Art Monthly Australasia, Meanjin Quarterly, Overland Literary Journal and Runway Journal. He has exhibited his artwork at a number of venues in both Australia and Taiwan.
Matt has previously collaborated creatively with Tactical Lab Space, Guandu International Art Festival in Taipei, Pon Ding Gallery in Taipei and Shatila Refugee Camp in Beirut.