Nici Cumpston facts for kids

Nici Cumpston is a talented Australian artist. She is known as an art photographer, painter, curator, writer, and teacher. A curator is someone who chooses and organizes artworks for exhibitions.

In 2008, Nici became the first curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). Later, in 2014, she helped start Tarnanthi. This is a big arts festival in Adelaide that celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. She kept her job at AGSA while also leading Tarnanthi. In May 2025, Nici Cumpston became the director of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States.

Nici Cumpston's Early Life and School

Nicole Jane Cumpston was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1963. Her family has a mix of backgrounds. On her mother's side, she is Barkindji (an Aboriginal group from New South Wales) and Afghan. Her father's family is Irish and English.

Her father, Trevor, was a special X-ray doctor called a radiographer. Because of a health problem called tuberculosis, her family moved a lot. They lived in Darwin and then Alice Springs in the early 1960s. X-rays were needed in many places across the Northern Territory (NT).

Nici's younger brother, Jeremy Cumpston, was born in Darwin. After that, the family moved to a small village in Canada called Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes. Her father went there to study how to manage hospitals. They lived in different Canadian towns for about nine years. Nici quickly learned Canadian French and how to ice skating.

The family came back to Australia, but then returned to Canada. This was so her father could finish his studies, as Australia did not accept his first qualification. When Nici was 13, they moved back to Australia. They lived in the Riverland in South Australia, and she went to Glossop High School. Nici went to 17 different schools in total! She also has three younger sisters.

Nici Cumpston's First Jobs and More School

After finishing high school, Nici first trained to be a nurse. She worked at the Loxton District Hospital and then at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

In 1984, she moved to the NT and worked in tourism jobs near Uluru. There, she became friends with people from the Mutitjulu community. Later, she moved to Alice Springs and took a course in black and white photography. She traveled around the NT and Queensland, taking many pictures. Her mother encouraged her to go to art school. So, Nici enrolled in the North Adelaide School of Arts. After that, she worked for six years for the South Australia Police. She printed photos from crime scenes and accidents for use in court.

In 1996, Nici Cumpston became a photography teacher and art department leader at Tauondi Aboriginal Community College. While working there, she studied for her Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) degree at the University of South Australia (UniSA).

In 2006, she became the main teacher for a new course at UniSA. This course was about Indigenous arts, culture, and design. She also taught photography there.

Nici Cumpston's Career as a Curator

Nici Cumpston became the first curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). She started as a trainee in 2008. In 2010, she got to organize a big art show called Desert Country. This show was first seen at AGSA and then traveled to other places in Australia.

In 2014, she was chosen to be the first artistic director of Tarnanthi. This is a festival for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts that happens every two years in Adelaide. Tarnanthi exhibitions are held at the South Australian Museum and other places. These include the JamFactory and the South Australian School of Art.

In January 2025, it was announced that Nici Cumpston would leave AGSA. She took on a new job as director of the University of Virginia's Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in the US. She started her new role in May 2025. Even though she moved to the US in March, Nici oversaw the Tarnanthi festival in 2025. This festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in October.

Nici Cumpston's Photography Work

Nici Cumpston developed her skills as an art photographer. She uses black-and-white film for her photos. These films are then scanned and printed digitally onto canvas. After printing, she adds color by hand using watercolors, oil paints, crayons, or pencils. Much of her art shows the rivers of the Murray–Darling basin.

Her work was inspired by Kate Breakey, another photographer from South Australia. Nici met Kate at art school. Kate has worked mostly in the US for 30 years. Nici has been showing her own art since the 1990s. In the early 2000s, Kate Breakey was a visiting artist at UniSA. Nici was chosen to learn from her as a mentee.

An exhibition of Nici's work, called having-been-there, was shown at Kluge-Ruhe in 2014. During this time, Nici spent two months there as a resident artist.

Nici Cumpston's Artworks

• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne:
  • Flooded Gum, Katarapko Creek, Murray River National Park, 2007
  • Nookamka – Lake Bonney
  • Tree stumps, western shoreline – Nookamka

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra:
  • Campsite V, Nookamka Lake

Other Things Nici Cumpston Does

In April 2024, Nici Cumpston helped judge a big project. This project was about making the National Gallery of Australia's sculpture garden new again. The garden is three hectares big. She worked with other experts like Philip Goad and Nick Mitzevich.

Nici is also a teacher and a strong supporter of Aboriginal people. She works to help them and share their culture.

Awards and Recognition for Nici Cumpston

In 2013, Nici Cumpston received the Premier of South Australia's NAIDOC Award. This award celebrates the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In 2019, the SA Government gave her the Stevie Gadlabarti Goldsmith Memorial Award.

In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Nici Cumpston was given the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). This award was for her "service to the museums and galleries sector, and to Indigenous art." Elders from Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands had suggested her for this honor.

When it was announced in January 2025 that she was leaving AGSA, the gallery listed her many successes. Under her 17-year leadership, the gallery's collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art grew by over 1,000 artworks. She also organized many important exhibitions. The Minister for the Arts, Andrea Michaels, also praised her work.

Nici Cumpston's Personal Life

As of 2020, Nici Cumpston had a partner named Jon. He is a surveyor. Jon was her best friend's brother when she was a nurse. They started their relationship around 2006.