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Steve Dow

@dowsteve.bsky.social
451 followers 142 following 186 posts

Arts journalo, everywhere I go - Guardian, Saturday Paper, The Monthly, Sunday Life, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Art Guide Australia, Limelight, Australian Book Review, Meanjin. stevedow.com.au/default.aspx

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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I talk to revered Māori writer Witi Ihimaera, whose play opens at Brisbane Festival tonight. “You just have to keep going through [angry responses] and make sure you keep putting the Indigenous point of view, or the alternative, radical, subversive point of view.” www.theguardian.com/stage/ng-int...
theguardian.com
Witi Ihimaera: ‘Whenever things get hairy I think to myself, they’re only angry because we Māori survived’
The revered writer angered New Zealand audiences two decades ago with his play about an ancient woman who has witnessed 160 years of colonialism. Now it is premiering in Australia
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
In his 50 years of drawing Peanuts, creator Charles Schulz never drew full-figure adults in the comic strip, unlike the background characters in this AI slop. Please don’t rip off artists.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I support Wikipedia, where information is still human-created, fact-checked, and 100% free. Join me! donate.wikimedia.org
donate.wikimedia.org
Make your donation now - Wikimedia Foundation
Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia and other crucial free knowledge projects. Each year, the generosity of the 2% of readers who donate allows us to expand the reac...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I profiled football, Survivor and Traitors star Kirby Bentley, a proud Noongar woman, for Sunday Life. www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/li...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I talk to artist Billy Bain about surfing, art and belonging for @australia.theguardian.com ahead of his show By the River at the Art Gallery of NSW. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
theguardian.com
‘The beach was and still is an Aboriginal space’: artist Billy Bain on reclaiming the sand and waves
For his upcoming solo exhibition, the Dharug artist has made 11 colourful clay sculptures that represent a counter-image to the bronzed Aussie beachgoer
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Could AI ever be as good as Shakespeare? Got some surprising - and sobering - answers in this 3000-word cover story for Limelight’s July edition. limelight-arts.com.au/features/aid...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Campaign to reform the press council getup.to/a8XzBEFLCzKWcl
getup.to
Time to fix Australia's broken media
An independent movement to build a progressive Australia and bring participation back into our democracy.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
“Everyone assumes I must have been Catholic because I have seven brothers and sisters ... it was Canada – it was just cold.” A delight to walk and talk with the erudite Pamela Rabe for the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
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Jo Dyer @instanterudite.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Richard Marles on SBS discussing how he & his mate "Pete" are committed to a "rules-based order", which apparently includes murdering 200 people in the eastern Pacific ocean, kidnapping state leaders in South America & launching unilateral wars at the behest of war criminals. Shame on him. And us.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I reviewed Tony Albert’s extraordinary survey Not a Souvenir at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-arts-rev...
australianbookreview.com.au
‘Tony Albert: Not a Souvenir: An exhibition that speaks to the commodification of Indigenous culture’ by Steve Dow
An ink drawing in Sydney’s short-lived Daily Guardian newspaper in 1927 depicts the moment in 1770 when Captain James Cook and his crew – ‘the first white men to set foot on this coast’ – encountered ...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I spoke to Sean Bidder, creative director of The Vinyl Factory in London, about the Reverb exhibition that has just opened at Melbourne's Centre for the Moving Image as part of the Rising festival artguide.com.au/revolutions-...
artguide.com.au
Revolutions in Vinyl
An exhibition at ACMI as part of RISING Festival brings audiences together to listen to, look at and engage with the culture of The Vinyl Factory, a storied independent record label in London.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
My yarn with actors Googoorewon Knox and Guy Simon, and playwright Jane Harrison about her new play Bennelong in London, coming to Sydney Theatre Company in July limelight-arts.com.au/features/ref...
limelight-arts.com.au
Reframing Bennelong
Read the article from Limelight's June 2026 issue.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
My chat with British viola virtuoso Lawrence Power about Isles of Light, the concert he has programmed, directs and performs in for the Australian Chamber Orchestra limelight-arts.com.au/features/int...
limelight-arts.com.au
Into the Light
Read the article from Limelight's June 2026 issue.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Had a yarn with Waiben-born (Thursday Island) artist Brian Robinson about his survey opening this week at Newcastle Art Gallery. In his intricate new work Abracadabra, part of his exhibition called Multiverse, Robinson is seeking to connect “wizardry with ethnography”. artguide.com.au?p=230753
artguide.com.au
From Comics to Cosmos with Brian Robinson
A survey exhibition at Newcastle Art Gallery encapsulates the spectrum of influences of Waiben-born (Thursday Island) artist Brian Robinson, from ancient cosmologies to religious iconography, from eth...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Supplied - and designed - by Murdoch's NY Post, of course. The same masthead that promised in 2024 Trump would bring "an America respected on the world stage — feared by our enemies and trusted by our allies". As opposed to a tin-foil hatter party for space cadets. nypost.com/2026/05/16/u...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
As Richard Lewer takes the $100,000 Archibald prize for his luminous painting of Pitjantjatjara Elder and healer Iluwanti Ken, I take a look for Art Guide at the finalist selection of Indigenous icons, strong women, stage and screen stars and “activists and advocates” artguide.com.au/richard-lewe...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Pitjantjatjara Elder, artist and healer Iluwanti Ken, painted by Richard Lewer, wins 2026 Archibald prize.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
(Ahem, I picked the winner.) Richard Lewer wins the 2026 Archibald Prize, looked on by his subject: Pitjantjara Elder, artist and healer Iluwanti Ken in a floral dress.
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Amanda Meade @meadea.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Australian director Phillip Noyce shoots feature film for Saudi Arabia celebrating ‘heroism of security men in combating drugs’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
Australian director Phillip Noyce shoots feature film for Saudi Arabia celebrating ‘heroism of security men in combating drugs’
Exclusive: Regime, which executed 243 people last year for drug offences, accused of investing in entertainment to whitewash its human rights record
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
"There were no [Aboriginal] characters on TV. This imagery gave me a sense of belonging or a validation. To be on a plate or a cup or a tea towel you had to be some kind of notable person" In Art Guide's May/June issue I talk to Tony Albert about his Museum of Contemporary Art survey opening May 21
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Deb Mailman: The Indigenous voice referendum “was an interesting case of people deciding they didn’t care.” The misinformation around the proposal “was so awful, and heartbreaking for a lot of people. There’s almost a permission now where people can just be incredibly cruel and bigoted and racist.”
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Beautiful composition & light: Sean Layh's portrait of actor Jacob Collins, playing an agonised Hamlet, wins 2026 packing room prize ahead of the Archibald Prize winner announcement next Friday. No artist has yet won both the packing room prize ($3000), introduced in 1991, and main prize ($100,000)
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Plus Sheridan Harbridge; Khaled Sabsabi; Dylan River and Dale Frank #Archibald2026
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
My gay-o-meter just exploded: Kaylene Whiskey and the Huxleys; William Yang; Jan Fran; Susie Porter et al for #Archibald2026 finalist hang.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Spoke with Deb Mailman about her new film Wolfram, directed by Warwick Thornton, about Total Control, outer space and proud Country as well as her late Bidjara dad rodeo rider Wally and late Māori mum Jane. Oh, and about racism in Australia. Pics by Jess Hromas www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Booing racists marred the dawn service welcome to country, but the afternoon Redfern commemoration for Black diggers who served Australia with distinction was moving and quite lovely, including Pastor Ray Minniecon, a Kabi-Kabi and Gurang-Gurang man and the sweet refrain of Karunga Group Māori Choir
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
My review of The River from Sydney Theatre Company at the Opera House www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-arts-rev...
australianbookreview.com.au
‘The River: A time-broken play from Jez Butterworth’ by Steve Dow
A bare cabin timber frame, situated above a river, through which suspended strips of dark material represent a moonless night. A simple table, chairs, and stove. An unnamed woman (Miranda Otto) ethere...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
I reviewed Sistren by Iolanthe www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/thea...
thesaturdaypaper.com.au
SISTREN and the strengths of sisterhood
Iolanthe’s joyfully engaging debut play SISTREN, back for a return season at Belvoir St for Griffin Theatre Company, is full of deeply moving truths.
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equanimity1961.bsky.social @equanimity1961.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Now @australianlabor.bsky.social all you have to do is make sure all Australians have a home to live in so they can access the care "from home". Living in a car, or under a bridge is not a home yet that is where the neediest Australians are. #auspol #housing
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
“I don’t think you can have the pomp and the fanfare of fascism and Nazism and the tall poppy syndrome in the same culture.” I took a walk with comedian Reuben Kaye and we discussed political extremes and his peripatetic performing life www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
Reuben Kaye: ‘I don’t think Australians take themselves seriously enough to be Nazis’
The comedian and cabaret star on being bullied, queer rage and why tall poppy syndrome and fascism can’t exist in one culture
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Strong elements of activism and Indigenous rights at White Bay Power Station for the #SydneyBiennale
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
"It was unrelenting, like we were under siege." I talk to artists Aunty Sandra Saunders and Aunty Ellen Trevorrow about the 90s fight to stop a bridge being built from the South Australian mainland to Kumarangk / Hindmarsh Island and their art about sacred knowledge artguide.com.au/a-bridge-ove...
artguide.com.au
A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
An intergenerational exhibition reflects on the contested building of a bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island), and pays tribute to the Ngarrindjeri women who fought to protect and sustain their cultu...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
The Adelaide Biennial has opened. I spoke to curator Ellie Buttrose and artists Lauren Burrow and Kirtika Kain about the stress test of pushing materials past their limit, an apt metaphor for political and ecological change artguide.com.au/stress-test/
artguide.com.au
Stress Test
The 2026 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Yield Strength, highlights the ways artists are pushing materials to their limits, to reflect the world around them.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
My review of the return of a queer Australian classic, starring Simon Burke, returning to Surry Hills where it all started 50 years ago: www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/f...
theguardian.com
The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin review – Simon Burke is extraordinary in this timely queer classic
Actor deploys range and comedic skill in this gripping one-man show, which caused a sensation when it premiered in 1976 – and remains relevant today
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Details of allegations against Trump and the coverup by US Justice Department. Important investigation by America’s NPR www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...
npr.org
Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump
An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Meanjin is reborn, the title returning to its namesake home, via Queensland University of Technology. What a riposte to Melbourne University Publishing’s decision to suddenly can the storied journal last year after 80 years of publication on, ahem, “purely financial grounds”.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Afro-Asian Creole artist Thania Petersen makes sensory works with cross-cultural joy at their heart. Yolŋu Elders and artists from Arnhem Land joined her in Makassar in Sulawesi recently to make recordings for her project. I spoke to Petersen about her Perth Festival show: artguide.com.au?p=226424
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Well, the cinematography of Leni Riefenstahl doesn’t come cheap.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
More than $A100 million to licence and market doco Melania. One ticket sold across Hoyts cinemas so far, back row in Cronulla. Is Scotty from Marketing back in town? mumbrella.com.au/hoyts-has-so...
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Krutika Kuppalli, MD FIDSA @krutikakuppalli.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
This is how the administration is maligning Alex Pretti A caring, 37 year old male US citizen who worked in the Minneapolis VA ICU as a nurse caring for sick veterans. This is shameful and indefensible.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
To be fair, it’s hard to rhyme Malinauskas
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Thank goodness they dodged the "public ridicule and opprobrium". Far from being "never acceptable", insult is an inevitable byproduct of free speech. Curious he seems on board with preventing Friedman's appearance.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Is he really this dim?
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
These men talk about trauma and healing. “We pull the oars of truth, with strength from our ancestors,” they repeat, acknowledging society-wide problems of toxic masculinity while conveying how government policies and media dehumanise them. My review of Dear Son www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Dear Son review – essays by famous Indigenous fathers make for incredibly moving theatre
Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney festivalAdapted from essays by the likes of Stan Grant, Troy Cassar-Daley and NRL player Joe Williams, Dear Son generously invites the audience into its warm and vulnera...
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Albanese calls Grok abhorrent, yet he still posts on hellsite X. Why? www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...
smh.com.au
‘Abhorrent’: PM slams Elon Musk’s X over sexually explicit images
As the wave of AI generated sexual material grows, international leaders are demanding action by tech companies to stop images generated without consent.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Good points. Yes I suspect we’ll never know what the total might have otherwise been.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Roller derby in Australia is a force, featuring face-painted skaters such as Bionic Mayhem, Frill Seeker and Judge Juicy. I talk to jammer Maddy "BB Gun" Wilkinson and theatre makers Clare Watson & Virginia Gay about taking over Sydney Town Hall next week. www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Fast skates, high stakes: the raucous roller derby show taking over Sydney town hall
Mama Does Derby, based on theatre-maker Clare Watson’s experiences as a single mum searching for community, is bringing the sport to the stage
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Community and ritual are needed right now: I talk to artists behind three Sydney Festival events that deliver just that. artguide.com.au/sydney-festi...
artguide.com.au
Sydney Festival: Communal Rituals
Three presentations at the Sydney Festival highlight communal ritual and ceremony, encouraging viewers and participants to consider different approaches to life, and death.
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Steve Dow @dowsteve.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
One Nation supporter Dawn Fraser a curious media go-to for her opinion she’s “never seen so much hatred and division” in Australia. To be fair, she was well ahead of the curve.
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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
No notes.
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