Respect, Recognition and Healing
For First Nations people, making art is part of telling your story – art is not separate from culture, but part of the same thing. Traditional or contemporary, its holistic nature makes it the natural instrument for Aboriginal people to pass on knowledge and wisdom, revitalise language, reconnect young people with their culture and find the pathways to build resilience.
-
Students of Carlton School with artist John Turpie and the memorial they created to express their grief at the loss of friends 2005 -
From 2015 Country Arts SA is inviting First Nations peoples into our Arts Centres with access to $15 discounted tickets. Tickets are for selected Country Arts SA presented shows in the five Country Arts SA owned and operated Art Centres; Chaffey Theatre, Hopgood Theatre, Middleback Arts Centre, Northern Festival Centre and the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre. -
Created in 2012 as part of Just Add Water, the Regional Centre of Culture, Kondoli (the Ngarrindjer/Ramindgeri word for whale) is a magnificent inflatable storytelling space catering for up to 50 children at a time. Kondoli was designed and created by the artistic team of SpinFX AustrAliA, Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko, with artistic advice from Evelyn Roth. Kondoli gets regular use across the state from annually at Spirit Festival in Adelaide to the Whale time play time festival in Victor Harbor, Fringe activates in Salisbury and Ceduna, Nunga celebrations in Port Pirie and Murray Bridge. Sometimes it is used as Aboriginal storytelling space and other times as storytelling for little kids generally. It is a generous resource that is low maintenance but gives great ‘festival impact’ at each site. Photo: Chris Herzfeld -
Created in 2012 as part of Just Add Water, the Regional Centre of Culture, Kondoli (the Ngarrindjer/Ramindgeri word for whale) is a magnificent inflatable storytelling space catering for up to 50 children at a time. Kondoli was designed and created by the artistic team of SpinFX AustrAliA, Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko, with artistic advice from Evelyn Roth. Kondoli gets regular use across the state from annually at Spirit Festival in Adelaide to the Whale time play time festival in Victor Harbor, Fringe activates in Salisbury and Ceduna, Nunga celebrations in Port Pirie and Murray Bridge. Sometimes it is used as Aboriginal storytelling space and other times as storytelling for little kids generally. It is a generous resource that is low maintenance but gives great ‘festival impact’ at each site. Photo: Chris Herzfeld -
Created in 2012 as part of Just Add Water, the Regional Centre of Culture, Kondoli (the Ngarrindjer/Ramindgeri word for whale) is a magnificent inflatable storytelling space catering for up to 50 children at a time. Kondoli was designed and created by the artistic team of SpinFX AustrAliA, Bob Daly and Kalyna Micenko, with artistic advice from Evelyn Roth. Kondoli gets regular use across the state from annually at Spirit Festival in Adelaide to the Whale time play time festival in Victor Harbor, Fringe activates in Salisbury and Ceduna, Nunga celebrations in Port Pirie and Murray Bridge. Sometimes it is used as Aboriginal storytelling space and other times as storytelling for little kids generally. It is a generous resource that is low maintenance but gives great ‘festival impact’ at each site. -
Welcome to Country Just Add Water launch Goolwa photo: Alice Bell -
Yarnballa Banners. Photo: Georgie Sharp -
Yarnballa Language Group Banners. Photo: Georgie Sharp -
Craig Walsh Digital Odyssey workshop in Raukkan -
Ngarrindjeri program during Ripples Murray Bridge -
Country Arts SA runs Black Screen annually as part of its commitment to work with Aboriginal people to honour their living cultures. Black Screen is a FREE evening of short films by Indigenous Film Makers held during Reconciliation Week. -
Our Corka Bubs is the first ever Aboriginal contemporary dance work choreographed specifically for babies aged 4-24 months old. It draws strongly from aspects of Australian Aboriginal culture and celebrates the moment by moment fascination of a baby’s interaction with the people who care for them. After performance seasons across the state Our Corka Bubs was selected to perform as part of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Image: Chris Herzfeld -
Ripples in the Sand - An exhibition of new mixed media works by Port Augusta Aboriginal Artists, curated by Lavene Ngatokorou and Felicity Wright. -
Change Media’s workshops Surfing on Country, Surfing on Culture with the Ngarrindjeri Media Team, screening of an ongoing work Reframing Culture at the National Conference Kumuwuki in 2012. used this storytelling device to invite Ngarrindjeri Elders and conference participants to reframe Australia’s colonial mindset. https://vimeo.com/52964967 -
Country arts SA are delighted to have Yvonne Koolmatrie as our chosen artist for our Reconciliation Action Plan. The content of her weaving and the unique style particular to Ngarrindjeri reflects the weaving of our organisation and our commitment to Regional SA communities and Reconciliation as a whole of business practice.
It is also the most powerful of tools to assist us all to better understand and respect our First Nations people and to reflect on the place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and rights in our nation’s story.
First Nations artists and art have figured prominently in our programs since the beginning— the staged version of Bran Nue Dae was a highlight of the first subscription season in 1993, annual exhibition programs have never been without indigenous content and important projects like See Saw were part of the early landscape. However, there was a greater role to be played by a leadership organisation.
Taking it up a notch in 2010, with the introduction of our Indigenous Arts and Cultural Engagement program, and adding an indigenous guiding hand to the team, we took the first step in embedding respect for First Nations culture across everything we do.
The dual-naming of the national conference Kumuwuki/Big Wave in 2012 was a landmark moment in regional arts, and the first time a First Nations people had showcased their culture and their relationship to country, in the community in which they live.
Knowing that we needed to continue our journey of learning, our national benchmark Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was launched in 2014, formalising our commitment to being responsive and respectful of cultural needs and rights through partnerships, dialogue and action.
With all this humming away in the background, the principal role of our two aboriginal producers is to find the pathways for Aboriginal people to build resilience – economically, physically, emotionally and spiritually – through artmaking which tackles contemporary issues, often around grief and loss, providing a place of safety where traditional cultural practice is respected and Aboriginal people take charge of their own healing.
Country Arts SA recognises and respects that we are living and creating on Aboriginal Lands and we are committed to working together to honour their living cultures.
We know that non-Indigenous people must take the lead in reconciliation over the past and for the future and that there is still much work to be done. But we’re proud to have made a start.
