Researcher biography
I am the Director of the UQ Anthropology Museum and ARC Research Fellow. I have worked in the area of Aboriginal arts and cultural heritage since 1985, maintaining an interest in documenting aspects of urban Aboriginal history and culture. I have curated over 30 exhibitions including; Portraits of Our Elders (1993) a Queensland Museum travelling exhibition, Transforming Tindale (2012) at the State Library of Queensland, Captured: Early Brisbane Photographers and Their Aboriginal Subjects (2014) at the Museum of Brisbane. In 1996 I established Keeaira Press an independent publishing house, producing over 35 books. Photography has been central to my career, both as a researcher of Aboriginal photographs and as a photographer. My work is held in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Queensland State Library, the Queensland Museum and the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.
Publications
Books
Aird, Michael, Gorringe, Shawnee, Andrews, Ian, Griffiths, Tom, Fairbairn, Andrew, Habgood, Phillip, Franklin, Natalie, Hough, Tracey, Ginn, Geoff, Hiscock, Peter, Gorringe, Joshua, Kerkhove, Ray, Martin, Richard, Keenan-Jones, Duncan, Silcock, Jen, Lowe, Kelsey M., Westaway, Michael C., Louys, Julien, Willcock, Jane, Manne, Tiina, Williams, Doug, Mapar, Mandana and Wright, Nathan (2022). Kirrenderri, heart of the Channel Country: a University of Queensland Anthropology Museum touring exhibition. Brisbane, QLD Australia: UQ Anthropology Museum.
Aird, Michael and Mapar, Mandana (2015). This is my heritage. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Museum.
Aird, Michael, Mapar, Mandana and Memmott, Paul (2015). Wild Australia, Meston's Wild Australia Show 1892-1893. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Aird, Michael and Rigney, Virginia (2014). Saltwater country. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Museum and Gallery Services & Gold Coast City Galllery.
Aird, Michael and Mapar, Mandana (2013). Object of the story. Southport, QLD, Australia: Keeaira Press.
Aird, Michael (2001). Brisbane Blacks. Southport, QLD, Australia: Keeaira Press.
Aird, Michael (1996). I Know a Few Words: Talking About Aboriginal Languages. 1st ed. Southport, QLD, Australia: Keeaira Press.
Aird, Michael (1993). Portraits of our elders. South Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Museum.
Book Chapters
Aird, Michael (2023). À propos de sept photographies d’Aborigénes du Queensland achetées par Désiré Charnay. Mondes photographies, histories des débuts. (pp. 268-273) edited by Christine Barthe and Annabelle Lacour. Paris, France: Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac / Actes Sud.
O'Rourke, Timothy, Mapar, Mandana, Memmott, Paul and Aird, Michael (2022). Camps, cottages and homes: an introduction to the exhibition. Camps, cottages and homes. (pp. 5-5) edited by Timothy O'Rourke and Mandana Mapar. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland School of Architecture.
Aird, Michael (2022). Forward. Kirrenderri: Heart of The Channel Country. (pp. 6-6) edited by Michael C. Westaway, Mandana Mapar, Tracey Hough, Shawnee Gorringe and Geoff Ginn. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Aird, Michael (2022). Through Mick's eyes. Mick Richards above and below. (pp. 188-189) edited by Michael Aird, Kon Gouriotis and Melissa Pesa. Southport, QLD, Australia: Keeaira Press.
Aird, Michael (2022). Mary-Ann of Ulmurra 1870-1873. An Alternate History of Photography. (pp. 96-96) edited by Phillip Prodger. Munich, Germany: Prestel Publishing.
Aird, Michael (2021). 'Three boomerangs…shillling for each': linking objects and images from Moreton Bay. Ancestors, artefacts, empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish museums. (pp. 233-241) edited by Gaye Sculthorpe, Maria Nugent and Howard Morphy. London, United Kingdom: The British Museum Press.
Aird, Michael (2019). The exotic: what people see .... Queen's Land Blak Portraiture: Late 19th Century to the Present. (pp. 73-76) edited by Djon Mundine , Michael Aird, Julie Gough, Janina Harding and Sandra Phillips. Cairns, QLD, Australia: Cairns Art Gallery.
Aird, Michael (2017). Gordon Hookey: another history, another reality. Gordon Hookey: summoning time - Painting & politikill transition in Murriland!. (pp. 11-15) edited by Angela Goddard and Vivian Ziherl. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Griffith University.
Aird, Michael (2015). Early Queensland photographers and their Aboriginal subjects. The photograph and Australia. edited by Judy Annear. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Aird, Michael (2015). Tactics of survival: images of Aboriginal women and domestic service. Colonization and domestic service: historical and contemporary perspectives. (pp. 182-190) edited by Victoria K. Haskins and Claire Lowrie. New York and London: Routledge.
Aird, Michael (2014). Aboriginal People and Four Early Brisbane Photogrpahers. Calling The Shots: Aboriginal Photographies. (pp. 132-154) edited by Jane Lydon. ACT, Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Aird, Michael, Sullivan, Rodney and Barr, Todd (2014). Within Reach. The River: A History of Brisbane. (pp. 100-101) Brisbane: Museum of Brisbane.
Aird, Michael (2007). Defining who we are. Sunshine State Smart State. (pp. 43-47) edited by Djon Mundine. Campbelltown, NSW, Australia: Campbelltown Arts Centre.
Aird, Michael (2005). Growing up with Aborigines. Photography's other hisotries. (pp. 23-39) edited by Christopher Pinney and Nicolas Peterson. Durham, NC, United States: Duke University Press.
Aird, Michael (2002). Developments in the repatriation of human remains and other cultural items in Queensland, Australia. The dead and their possessions: repatriation in principle, policy and practice. (pp. 303-311) edited by Cressida Fforde, Jane Hubert and Paul Turnbull. New York, NY, United States: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
Journal Articles
Sassoon, Joanna, Aird, Michael and Trigger, David (2023). Trusting the copies? Historical photographs and native title claims. Archives and Records, 1-21. doi: 10.1080/23257962.2023.2190085
Aird, Michael, Sassoon, Joanna and Trigger, David (2022). ‘The White-man calls me Jack’: the many names and claims for Jackey Jackey of the lower Logan River, south-east Queensland, Australia. Aboriginal History Journal, 45 1, 3-32. doi: 10.22459/ah.45.2021.01
Aird, Michael and Memmott, Paul (2021). Photographic identification of the troupe members of the Wild Australia Show. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum-Culture, 12, 7-26. doi: 10.17082/j.2205-3239.12.1.2021.2021-02
Aird, Michael (2020). Vale Laurie Nilsen. Artist Profile.
Aird, Michael, Sassoon, Joanna and Trigger, David (2020). From illustration to evidence: historical photographs and Aboriginal native title claims in south-east Queensland, Australia. Anthropology and Photography, 13, 1-27.
Aird, Michael (2020). From illustration to evidence: centring historical photographs in native land claims. Kronos, 46 (1), 148-171. doi: 10.17159/2309-9585/2020/v46a7
Aird, Michael (1991). The reconstruction of cultural heritage. Ngoonjook Journal of Australian indigenous issues, 6, 61-62.
Aird, Michael (1991). Dying death and the mourning process. The Institute of American Indian Studies Bulletin, 126 (Summer/Fall 1991), 12-15.
Walters, Ian, Lauer, Peter, Nolan, Anna, Dillon, Graham and Aird, Michael (1987). Hope Island: salvage excavation of a Kombumerri site. Queensland Archaeological Research, 4, 80-95. doi: 10.25120/qar.4.1987.173
Conference Papers
Aird, Michael (2014). Documenting the ‘Exotic’ and ‘Savage’ in 1860s Brisbane, Queensland. Anthropology and Photography, London, United Kingdom, 29-31 May 2014. London, United Kingdom: Royal Anthropolgical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. British Museum's Department of Africa, Oceania and the America's.
Aird, Michael (2009). The face of change among Australian Aborigines. IMACO International Conference 2009: The World Map of Masks and Symbols, Bangkok, Thailand, 12-14 November 2009. Andong, Korea: International Mask Arts & Culture Organisation.
Audio Documents
Aird, Michael, Evans, Michelle and Stewart, Nicole (2021). The Blak Economy. IndigenousX.
Aird, Michael and Mapar, Mandana (2015). Meston's Wild Australia Show.
Aird, Michael and Ah Kee, Vernon (2012). Transforming Tindale: photographs remade and reimagined. ABC Radio National.
Video Documents
Creative Works
Aird, Michael, Leone, Fred and Radke, Amelia (2018). Yerrabilela: talking about songs. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Young, Diana, Gray, Campbell, Littley, Samantha, Willcock, Jane and Aird, Michael (2017). An afternoon of conversation and the opening of two exhibitions 'From Relics to Rights. Aboriginal people and Anthropology at the University of Queensland' and 'Still in my mind. Gurindji location, experience and visuality'.. St Lucia, QLD, Australia:
Aird, Michael (2017). From relics to rights: Aboriginal people and anthropology at the University of Queensland. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Memmott, Paul, Aird, Michael and Thomson, Linda (2017). Wild Australia: Meston's Wild Australia Show 1892-1893 Exhibition. University of Queensland, Brisbane: University of Queensland.
Aird, Michael and Mapar, Mandana (2015). This is my heritage. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Museum.
Aird, Michael, Mapar, Mandana and Memmott, Paul (2015). Wild Australia: Meston’s Wild Australia Show 1892-1893. St Lucia, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.
Aird, Michael (2014). Captured: early Brisbane photographers and their Aboriginal subjects. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Museum of Brisbane.
Aird, Michael and Mapar, Mandana (2013). Object of the story: reflections on place. Ballina, NSW, Australia: Northern Rivers Community Gallery.
Aird, Michael (2012). Transforming Tindale. Brisbane, Australia: State Library of Queensland.
Aird, Michael (2011). Woogoompah: My Country-Swamp Country. Gold Coast, QLD, Australia: Gold Coast City Gallery.
Aird, Michael (2009). Equal before the lens. Sydney, Australia: Macquarie University Art Gallery.
Aird, Michael (2009). Equal Before the Lens. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia: Macquarie University Art Gallery.