By Jed Lanyon
TarraWarra Museum of Art is staging a major exhibition as part of the Yalingwa Visual Arts Initiative, focused on the Home Country of First Nations artists from south-east Australia.
WILAM BIIK, is curated by Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung woman Stacie Piper as part of her two-year Yalingwa position as the First Nations curator at TarraWarra Museum of Art.
Director of the TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria Lynn, said the exhibition WILAM BIIK, which means “Home Country” in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people, will invite visitors to appreciate how First Nations people see, listen and connect to Country.
“This is an exhibition of an innate and unsevered connection between First Peoples and Home Country, bridging thousands of generations.
“You are invited to listen deeply – to learn and understand how First Peoples connect with Home Country, Wilam Biik,” Ms Lynn said.
First Nations curator, Ms Piper, said the WILAM BIIK exhibition is about exploring the true spirit of ourselves, which is found within the spirit of Country.
“Artists have been selected to represent particular songlines, waterlines, bushlines, representing a number of the 38-plus different clans within South East Australia.”
“Our Wilam Biik is the soil, the land, the water, the air, the sky, and the animals residing within. The only home we know, which we honour for its sacred exchange. A home where custodial rights and responsibilities never left. May this place you call home become a deeper part of you.
WILAM BIIK features new works by nine contemporary Aboriginal artists of south-east Australia and a group installation by the Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri Women’s Dance Group, together with loans from the National Gallery of Victoria, Koorie Heritage Trust, State Library of Victoria, Art Gallery of Ballarat, and Queensland Art Gallery.
The exhibition features new work from contemporary artists Paola Balla (Wemba Wemba, Gundjitmara), Deanne Gilson (Wadawurrung), Kent Morris (Barkindji),
Glenda Nicholls (Waddi Waddi, Ngarrindjeri and Yorta Yorta), Steven Rhall (Taungurung), Nannette Shaw (Tyereelore, Trawoolway, Bunurong), Kim Wandin (Wurundjeri),
Arika Waulu (Gunditjmara, Djapwurrung, Gunnai), Rhiannon Williams (Wakaman, Waradjuri), and the Djirri Djirri Wurundjeri Women’s Dance Group (Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung, Ngurai Illum Wurrung) together with works by William Barak (Wurundjeri), Timothy Korkanoon (Wurundjeri), Granny Jemima Burns Wandin Dunolly (Wurundjeri), Joyce Moate (Taungurung), and a selection of ancestral personal tools and adornments from the South East Australian region.
“Experiencing Country through a First Nations lens provides a perspective which can inspire, give insight and knowledge, and affirm and re-establish a fundamental connection with nature. This is critical to the wellbeing of people, nature and the planet,” Ms Piper said.
“The exhibition will also feature ancestral tools from the region. The Barak works and ancestral tools from Coranderrk represent a ‘return to Country’ by coming home to the Tarrawarra area.
“With the ancestral tools and adornments, new works and a Djirri Djirri installation we are presenting the past, present and future of what home Country means to First Nation people in south east Australia.
“My hope is that each person walks away inspired, in awe of the beauty of Country, and empowered with a personal sense of connection and responsibility,” Ms Piper said.
The Yalingwa Visual Arts Initiative 2017–2022 is a significant partnership between Creative Victoria, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and TarraWarra Museum of Art that aims to support the development of outstanding contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial practice, with a primary focus on South-East Australian First Nations artists.
WILAM BIIK is the second of three major exhibitions as part of the Yalingwa Initiative. The exhibitions alternate between ACCA and TarraWarra Museum of Art.
The first, A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness, curated by Hannah Presley, was held at ACCA in 2018, and a final exhibition will be at ACCA in 2023.
WILAM BIIK will be exhibiting from 31 July – 7 November 2021 at the TarraWarra Museum of Art. For more information, visit: www.twma.com.au
