Luke Scholes Joins D’Lan Contemporary As Director

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Luke Scholes as Director, D’Lan Contemporary. The focus of this pivotal new role will be to support our vision to further collaborate with and represent First Nations artists and art centres, and to present a series of curated primary and secondary market exhibitions at our galleries in Melbourne, Sydney, New York, and internationally.

Luke brings over 20 years’ experience to his role as Director, D’Lan Contemporary. Since beginning his career as Field Officer, then Assistant Manager at Papunya Tula Artists in 2003, Luke has forged a career as a respected curator and scholar in First Nations art. In 2008, he worked for Martumili Artists in Western Australia, before joining the National Gallery of Victoria as Project Officer, Indigenous Art.

In 2015, he was appointed curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, where he curated the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (2016-2020) and the award-winning exhibitions Tjungunutja: from having come together (2017), and The Moment Eternal: Nyapanyapa Yunupingu (2020). More recently, he was Associate Research Fellow at Deakin University, Melbourne.

Luke Scholes said, I am thrilled to join the team at D’Lan Contemporary as they continue their exciting trajectory into the global contemporary art market. I look forward to working with some of Australia’s finest First Nations artists and art centres to deliver outstanding exhibitions at our galleries in Melbourne, Sydney, New York, and internationally and to assisting private collectors and institutions in their efforts to develop collections of significance.’

And ‘With an emphasis on excellence, scholarship and impeccable provenance, our exhibitions and advocacy will seek to further support and develop the burgeoning global interest in Australian First Nations art and artists.’

D’Lan Davidson, Director & Founder of D’Lan Contemporary said, ‘In his over 20-year career in this sector, Luke has built a reputation based on integrity and scholarship. It is this, and his in-depth knowledge and passion for First Nations art that will, alongside D’Lan Contemporary Head of Research, Vanessa Merlino, help us deliver an exceptional international exhibition and talks programme. We are very excited to welcome him to the team.’

We look forward to sharing more about the projects Luke will be involved with, and our 2025 exhibition and events programme with you very soon.