Queen Victoria Gardens

First Nations artists share a deeper meaning for ‘every living thing’ 

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, Country is the key to identity and spirituality. It is every living thing. In these yarns with local and visiting artists, we’ll explore the meaning of every living thing and its centrality to art practice for First Nations people. Join our esteemed lineup of cultural leaders and artists including host Leila Gurruwiwi, facilitator Mayatili Marika, and panellists Nina Fitzgerald, Shahn Stewart, Paula Savage, Kim Ah Sam, and Luke Currie Richardson.

Talk 1 (11am – 12.30pm)
Facilitator: Mayatili Marika
Speakers: Nina Fitzgerald, Shahn Stewart

Talk 2 (1.30pm – 3pm)
Facilitator: Leila Gurruwiwi
Speakers: Paula Savage, Kim Ah Sam, Luke Currie Richardson

The two talks continue MPavilion’s long-running partnership with Agency, an organisation that acts as a catalyst for connection with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. 

Collaborators:

Leila Gurruwiwi
Leila Gurruwiwi (she/her) is a multi-talented individual with a diverse range of skills and expertise. She is a proud Yolŋu woman, originally from Galiwinku on Elcho Island in North East Arnhem Land, NT. Leila has called the lands of the Kulin Nation and Victoria home since she was very young. She has deep-rooted connections to Dja Dja Wurrung Country having grown up in Bendigo as well as familial ties to Taungurung and Wamba Wamba Country through her extended adopted Koorie family.

She is a media personality, a captivating presenter, a talented actor, a cultural ambassador, and a knowledgeable mentor. Leila’s passion for raising awareness, embracing cultural heritage, and fighting for a more inclusive and united society is truly remarkable. She is an inspiration to all, particularly in her tireless efforts to create a safe environment for minority groups. As part of the Agency Projects team, Leila is the Cultural Liaison and Public Programs Lead, where she works to create opportunities for First Nations perspectives to be heard by a wider audience. Leila now lives, works and thrives on Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung Country and is Agency’s much-loved Cultural Liaison and Public Programs Lead.

Mayatili Marika
Mayatili Marika (she/her) is a Rirratjingu Traditional Owner and Yolŋu woman based in north-east Arnhem Land. Part of a new generation of leadership for Yolŋu people, Mayatili is a bilingual leader and advocate who is involved in the education pipeline for Yolŋu people in the region.

Mayatili belongs to one of the great artistic and political dynasties of Australia. Her father is Wandjuk Marika O.B.E. and her grandfather is Mawalan Marika. Her father was instrumental in the international recognition of Aboriginal art, traveling around the world to promote Indigenous culture.  As Chair of the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australian Council he played an important role in advocating for the founding of the Buku-Larrngay Mulka Centre. The Marika family is strongly represented in the Madayin exhibition, as well as museum and gallery collections around the world.

For over a decade, Mayatili has been the Cultural Curator and programmer of the Garma Festival (Australia’s largest annual indigenous event) in North East Arnhem Land. She also works for the University of Melbourne. Mayatili’s role at the University of Melbourne provides cultural knowledge, leadership and support for the University’s strategy and partnerships in North East Arnhem Land. The role also connects and builds the University’s relationship with the Yolngu of North East Arnhem Land, working across the University with a range of academic and professional staff at all levels to create, develop, and execute opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders.

Speakers:
Nina Fitzgerald
Nina Fitzgerald is a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman whose family hails from Kakadu, the Torres Strait Islands and the Wuthathi people of Shelbourne Bay in Far North Queensland. Her work spans the fashion and creative sectors with roles in Creative Direction, curation and writing. Most recently, Nina Fitzgerald has carved a unique (and impressive) career before returning to the Northern Territory to open Laundry Gallery, a multi-disciplinary creative hub that exists to preserve and evolve one of the oldest living cultures on earth. Located on Larrakia Land, the gallery has taken shape in 70’s era laundromat, acting as the backdrop for exhibitions, workshops & events and a metaphor for the new life Nina has given to First Nations stories. Her time away from the gallery is spent in her childhood home, shared with her partner & housemate, and the surrounding tropics. We spoke with Nina about the significance of her work, including spending time on Country with artists and projects with the next generation of elders – plus, what it’s like to live in Darwin’s endless summer.

Shahn Stewart
Shahn Stewart is a Yorta Yota woman and an interdisciplinary artist. Who is the owner and founder of Alchemy Orange, an Aboriginal-owned botanical design studio started in 2020. With a diverse portfolio that ranges from large-scale activations to thoughtfully crafted one-off pieces, Alchemy Orange finds the everlasting and innate beauty of Country, and distills it into creative works that pay homage to our First Nations culture and channels many influences including her proud Yorta Yorta heritage. 

Shahn’s works express the creative possibilities of organic architecture, as well as the deep importance of connecting to culture, working with sustainable materials, and in turn healing Country. Alchemy Orange’s work is rooted in botanical art and organic architecture and extends its focus beyond these perimeters to encompass a collective and multidisciplinary approach to contemporary Aboriginal art.

Paula Savage
Paula Savage is an artist and proud Mualgal woman from the Serganilgal clan group from the village of Dabu on Moa Island, and the Kaurareg Nation of Muralag and Kiriri. She lives in Kubin Community, Moa Island in the near western cluster of islands in Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait). 

Paula has been an active member of Ngalmun Lagau Minaral Art Centre (Moa Arts) since 2017 and in a short period of time has staked out her position as a senior artist of great talent. She works mostly with black and white lino prints and colour monoprints but is perhaps best known for her elaborately crafted island-style weaving. Her artworks are influenced by her experience of everyday life, which is a blend of traditional customary practices and contemporary influences. She has a unique and powerful graphic style and a strong sense of colour and form which she uses to bring to life the shells and fish bones, the sea life, hunting and fishing implements, luggers and pearl shells of her personal history.  

Paula’s work is held in various collections around the country, and has received numerous awards including the prestigious 2023 Melbourne Design Week Award. Her work is held at the National Gallery of Victoria and in many private collections.

Kim Ah Sam
Kim Ah Sam is a proud Kuku Yalanji and Kalkadoon woman who was born and raised in Queensland. As a mature-aged woman, Kim decided to follow her dream to go to university; in 2017, Kim completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art and continued to complete her Fine Art Honours at Griffith University Queensland College of Art in 2018, majoring in printmaking. Kim’s printmaking and sculpture is based around her cultural and spiritual identity. An abiding theme of her art practice is investigating ways of spiritually reconnecting with the people and land of her father’s Country (Kalkadoon) and her grandmother’s Country (Kuku Yalanji). Kim expresses this reconnection in diverse ways – by representing landscape, or ‘Country’, through rigorous, cross-disciplinary experimentation in a variety of media, including handmade papermaking, print and sculpture.

Kim’s weaving practice is entirely self-taught, embodying storytelling and knowledge-sharing through unique sculptural forms that examine the landscape’s relationship with the body. Her work explores weaving as a therapeutic practice towards a process of cultural healing and a way to address feelings of disconnection and reconnection with her Country.

Luke Currie Richardson
Luke Currie Richardson, a proud descendant of the Kuku Yalanji, Djabugay, Mununjali, Butchulla, and Meriam peoples, has dedicated over 14 years to sharing powerful Indigenous stories through dance, film, photography, spoken word, and fashion. Touring with Bangarra Dance Theatre and Marrugeku, he’s collaborated with artists like Ghenoa Gela and Wesley Enoch. In 2023, Luke debuted his choreography GEDOVAIT in the Stephanie Lake Escalator program. His photography, featured in Vogue and Marie Claire, won the People’s Choice Award in the 2024 National Photographic Portrait Prize. In 2022, he made his theatre acting debut in Kalanga Atu at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. As a poet, his work has been showcased at Sydney Festival’s The Vigil and published by Red Room Poetry. Through his multidisciplinary practice, Luke amplifies Indigenous culture, challenging perceptions of identity and belonging in contemporary Australia.