Join our community
Sign up to the MPavilion newsletter to get program highlights and news delivered straight to your inbox.
MTalks
Beneath Our Feet
Free
MPavilion
Queen Victoria Gardens
Opposite National Gallery of Victoria View map
This event is now complete. If you want to revisit the talk, visit our Library, or subscribe to the MPavilion podcast via iTunes, Pocketcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Recordings
Watch moreCountry is not just a physical place, but also a spiritual and cultural one. It is the land, the water, the air, and the creatures that inhabit it. It is the place where Indigenous people have lived for thousands of years, and it is the source of their identity and connection to the world.
Come hear from Indigenous architects and non-Indigenous architects who collaborate with Traditional Owners on their projects as they demonstrate how architects can incorporate Indigenous concepts and materials into their designs to create beautiful, functional, and culturally significant buildings.
When architects design with Country in mind, they create buildings that are respectful of Indigenous culture and that are sustainable, environmentally-friendly and more meaningful and enriching for the people who use them.
This MTalk was produced in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Architects.
Collaborators:
Bradley Kerr is a Quandamooka man and an architect living, working and learning on Wurundjeri Country. Bradley is Director of design studio Winsor Kerr, a member of the Australian Institute of Architects’ First Nations Advisory Working Group, Victoria Chapter Council, the AACA’s Accreditation Standing Panel and the 2023 Australian Architecture Conference Committee.
Anne-Marie Pisani is committed to advocating and practising culturally responsive and meaningful design processes through ensuring genuine collaborative engagement with First People’s communities. She understands and respects the value local communities knowledge brings to design and encourages all to connect with an ‘Indigenous way of knowing’. As a non-Indigenous landscape architect she is passionate about how the design of public spaces can contribute to a deeper understanding and respect for communities. She has successfully implemented this approach through many of her projects working with Traditional Owners from across Victoria.
She is the immediate past co-chair of AILA’s National ‘Connection to Country’ Committee, current panel member for both the VDRP and MDRP (with a focus on Indigenous involvement) and leads Aspect Studios in a genuine and respectful involvement with Traditional Owners.
Matt Muir is a Wiradjuri man of Northern New South Wales. Having a background in Architecture Matt has a keen interest in exploring the ways in which the built environment can engage, reflect and enhance Country. Within his current role at Monash University, Matt is researching ways in which university campuses can understand Country and reflect Indigenous culture within the built environment.
Sarah Lynn Rees is a Palawa woman descending from the Plangermaireener and Trawlwoolway people of North-East Tasmania. As an Indigenous woman she brings a unique perspective to her role in architecture, underpinned by her personal experience, heritage and research into the Indigenous built environment. Sarah works at Jackson Clements Burrows Architects where her role includes both architecture and leading JCB’s Indigenous Advisory, Architecture and Design services. She is regularly engaged to advise industry, universities and governments on appropriate processes and protocols. Sarah curated the BLAKitecture series until last year. She provides program consultation for MPavilion, teaches at Monash University and sits on several advisory boards.