TARNUK-UT BAANY: ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM:
tGAP has been selected as one of the Tarnuk-ut Baany cohort of emerging Indigenous artists at FCAC.
Tarnuk-ut baany is led by Footscray Community Arts’ Indigenous Advisory Group, Elders in Residence and Indigenous Cultural Programs staff facilitating cultural knowledge exchange with emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists in Victoria through creative and cultural development, presentation, and mentorship.
The program takes its name from the BoonWurrung phrase ‘wooden vessels holding water’, meaning an invitation to share food, sit around and tell stories.
Tarnuk–ut baany ensures the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are guided by the knowledge and experience of Elders and leaders. Over 2021 and 2022 successful applicants will participate in a range of skills development, mentoring and training experiences from leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, producers and creatives.
MAREE CLARKE ANCESTRAL MEMORIES:
Here are a few pics of some work tGAP made for Maree Clarke's recent solo exhibition at the NGV Maree Clarke: Ancestral Memories.
THE TORCH BANJ BANJ NAWNTA ANIMATION:
Here is a pic of an animation tGAP made for the Torch for the exhibition: Banj Banj Nwanta at Cournihan Gallery.
The Torch and The Counihan Gallery in Brunswick presented Banj Banj/nawnta, an exhibition of artworks by Indigenous artists Thelma Beeton (Palawa people) and Stacey (Taungurong /Boon Wurrung peoples). Their strong, bold and colourful paintings generously share their inspiring artistic and cultural journey and express the resilience of First Nations women as they navigate a pathway through the justice system back to family, culture and community.
Check out the virtual exhibition.
KENT MORRIS EXHIBTION:
Here is a pic of a work tGAP edited for Barkindji artist Kent Morris's upcoming exhibition at UTS.
The work manipulates structures and nature into new forms that reflect elements of Aboriginal tangible and intangible cultural heritage and western knowledge systems merging together.
Via digital technology, the shapes and structures of the built environment are reconstructed to reflect the cultural continuum of First Nations knowledge systems and designs. The forms and technologies of the built environment are being re-imagined and reshaped through a First Nations lens to reflect the long history of Indigenous cultures and knowledges and to reaffirm presence, identity and connectivity.
The work is constructed from a series of images taken of the large telecommunications tower on Kurnu Barkindji country, in Bourke NSW, during a family reunion and incorporates the interactions of kiinki (Corellas) as they flew around, and perched on, the dishes and panel antennas.
PEEL STREET SCREENING:
Here is a pic of Maree Clarke at a screening of tGAP made film: Born of the Land, put on by Yarra City Arts.
Rising up from the red dirt, where the land itself is representative of my connections to Country, this work evokes the spirit of my Ancestors and draws on the traditional mourning practices of the past to tell new stories about the history of Aboriginal resilience in southeast Australia.
In positioning myself as the central figure in this work, I invite the audience to witness alternative representations of Aboriginality, where digital technology assists in my creating an ethereal and sensory landscape. The work challenges notions that Aboriginal people from southeast Australia are obsolete and no longer here.
The work is one of juxtapositions, as I move from the past to the present, standing strong on the Country of my Ancestors to reveal contemporary representations of who I am and where I come from. This moving image work provides another lens through which to view the many different ways of being Aboriginal.
As Aboriginal people we are connected to place, yet we may live away from place; we are connected to stories and people from the past, yet they continue to resonate in our lives today. All these things and more inform my work, as I create and reclaim my cultural heritage as a contemporary Aboriginal artist.