Marmalade Issue 5, 2017

concept of locating ‘Indigenous theories, methodologies,
and methods at the centre, not the periphery’ of our society?
While such a shift could ultimately produce ‘an ecological
philosophy of mutual benefit’, getting there will be a
serious challenge.” 5
Without doubt this is a challenge but already we are making
small steps, evident in a range of new connections forming
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and
designers. The weavers of Elcho Island Arts in collaboration
with Koskela is an exciting example of cross-cultural
relationship-building. Shelter, 2015 is a dynamic fusion where
furniture collides with the intricate weavings of the Yolngu
women. The project and partnership has evolved over time
with the Sydney-based design company Koskela making
regular trips to Echo Island to learn from and work with
the women. The powerful work sees cultural techniques
and natural materials traditionally used for ceremonies and
carrying food, reinterpreted into furniture items such as
lampshades and tables.
For the Yolnugu women this is a vital opportunity to show
the rest of Australia what can be done with local materials,
flipping our capitalist hunger for the latest trend from New
York or Paris. The collaboration and use of native materials
also addresses the major crisis of our time – climate change.
The collaboration platforms new levels of resilience and
resourcefulness by switching from cheap mass-produced
plastics and metals to what we have in our own back yard.
When Sasha Titchkosky and Russel Koskela of Koskela first
visited Elcho Island, Mavis Warrngilna Ganambarr, a senior
weaver insisted on taking them shopping straightaway.
Prompting curious looks and the question where are the
shops? Their ignorance made the women laugh because
for them the bush, the shrubs, the trees, the plants and
the natural landscape were the shops. They get what they
need from the land, it surrounds them and it’s free. These
practices and ways of thinking not only generate incredible
art and design but start to show Australia that there is
a new way to progress which works in unison with the
environment rather than contributing to its decline. As Birch
states ‘a shift in mindset is required to produce meaningful
and valuable interactions between Indigenous and non-
Indigenous people.’ 6 Designs created by the Yolungu women
in partnership Koskela highlights this.
TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Art reflects a movement that is beginning to
emerge across a range of disciplines – from climate change
action to landscape design. Architects, designers, artists and
urban planners are finding dynamic and meaningful ways
to work alongside Aboriginal people and our culture,
creating new ways of being in cities and our own homes.
The festival comes at a time where we must rethink how we
live alongside our environment – a theme which ties in with
other collaborative practices in the design sector.
landscape by reinserting our identity. In 2016 in partnership
with SA Water, he created the Noarlunga Downs Wetland
Sculptures, a series of steel and concrete sculptures in the
stylised form of traditional bark canoes with fishing spears
that were traditionally used as punting poles. A government
water authority collides with the cultural practices of the
Kaurna and Ramindjeri peoples and rigid government land
management practices are stripped back. Aboriginal water
management is honoured, transforming the area from a
treated wastewater storage unit into a thriving wetland
sanctuary marked by Herzich’s striking sculptures.
These Indigenous design interventions can be seen in cities
across the country, revitalising the cold uniformity we are
often accustomed to in the built environment. In Perth, Edith
Cowan University’s Ngoolark building embedded Noongar
knowledge into the architectural design process, creating a
physical experience which links the visitor to Noongar culture,
reminding us it is still here and thriving. A range of projects
have arisen across Melbourne – from Brook Andrews and
Trent Walter’s arresting commemoration to the last Aboriginal
men hung in Melbourne in Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and
Maulboyheenner, 2016 to Megan Cope’s You Are, Here Now,
2015 which combines Woiwrurung language with colonial
maps on the façade of the Australian Catholic University.
More and more Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
are creating innovative ways to bring our cultures together,
ensuring that we no longer dilute, erase or tokenise the
traditional custodians of this land.
Nayuka Gorrie has a right to be concerned when she speaks
of economic capital not always flowing onto us and I have
certainly felt Richard Bell’s cynicism. But I also believe we
have learnt and are continuing to create collaborations based
on equity and grounded in the need to enrich who we are
though cross-cultural exchange and solidarity. TARNANTHI
Festival is another way to showcase our growth where artist/
designers like Nicole Monks and Elcho Island Arts weavers
in collaboration with Koskela are creating new ways of being
and a future, which resolves the pain of the past.
Confluence: Contemporary Aboriginal Design exhibits at
JamFactory from 29 September - 26 November as part
of TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Art.
1. http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/great/art/bell.html
2. Gorrie, N. Cultural Appropriation and Power, The Saturday Paper, 27 May, 2017.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2017/05/27/culturalappropriation-and-power/14958072004699.
3. Moulton, K. Collecting My Thoughts-Authenticity, The Museum and
Representation, Centre for Indigenous Stories, 2015.
5. http://indigenousstory.com.au/works/128/collecting-my-thoughtsauthenticity-the-museum-and-representation/
4. Recorded in an interview with Sophie Monks.
5. Birch, T. Climate Change, Recognition and Social Place-Making’, The Sydney
Review of Books, 3 March, 2017. http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/climatechange-recognition-and-caring-for-country/4
ibid
In Adelaide, Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna/German artist Paul Herzich
works across landscape architecture and public art to create
evocative cultural monuments that soothe the colonial