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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Avril and Miya

1990 (printed 2013)
Michael Riley

from the series ‘Michael Riley Portraits 1984-1990’
inkjet print on paper (frame: 51.6 cm x 43.2 cm, image: 49.0 cm x 41.0 cm)

Avril Quaill (b. 1958) is a Quandamooka artist, curator and arts administrator. Two years after graduating from Sydney College of the Arts in 1985, Quaill received an Australia Council Visual Arts Fellowship to take part in workshops at the Raminginning Arts Crafts centre (later Bula’bula Arts) in Arnhem Land. A founding member of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative in Sydney, she became its chairperson in 1989. Quaill is Creative Director of the Quandamooka Festival on North Stradbroke Island and has been Artistic Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and for Arts Queensland. As a curator she held positions at the National Gallery of Australia and Queensland Art Gallery. Quaill has served on many committees including the National Cultural Heritage Committee and the Indigenous Reference Committee, Museum of Contemporary Art. She is currently Acting Head of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement with the Queensland Museum Network.

Michael Riley and Quaill first met at the Sydney College of the Arts in 1984. Riley's photograph of Quaill with her newborn daughter Miya was part of his Portrait by a Window series, taken at Boomalli in 1990. Quaill shared a group house in Glebe around the time the photographs were taken with artist Tracey Moffatt and dancer and actor Kristina Nehm, who also appear in the series.

Purchased 2013
© Michael Riley/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Michael Riley (age 30 in 1990)

Avril Quaill (age 32 in 1990)

Subject professions

Visual arts and crafts

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency