D Harding’s International Rock Art Red

At half-past six on a Wednesday evening in September 2023, I found myself in a room with about forty others at the Dia Art Foundation, Manhattan, waiting for Bidjara, Ghungalu, and Garingbal artist D Harding to take the podium for a talk titled “Artists on Artists: D Harding on Robert Smithson.” The last Australian to grace Dia Art Foundation had been Tracey Moffatt in 1997, when the institution was under the helm of Australian-born curator Lynne Cooke. D’s invitation to speak came from Dia’s curator, Jordan Carter, who, in his opening remarks, recalled D’s 2022 exhibition We Breathe Together at Bergen Kunsthall and how it had etched itself into his memory.