Session 13 summary
Promoting Indigenous Art & Design
Australian Design Centre (ADC) supports and promotes Australian Designers who work with Indigenous art and craft. The Centre is based in Sydney but its foot/exhibitions are all around Australia. The funding poses quite a challenge as it’s a non-profit organization.
Some of their exhibitions and works are as follows; Living Treasures has been the main exhibition platform for the last 15 years and one Masterwork is presented each time. One such exhibition presented was of Lola Greeno, who works with shells. Her works represent Tasmanian Indigenous culture. She creates beautiful necklaces with the shells which is a culturally important activity done by the indigenous women. It also helps in raising awareness of the cultural practices of the indigenous people. Nicole Monks is an Indigenous designer whose work is based on kangaroo- ‘marlu’, her displayed work consists of kangaroo skin beneath the table with chairs surrounding it and needles and fibers/yarn on the tables, representing the cultural practice of working together and sharing stories with each other. Lucy Simpson’s work ‘Dhuwi’ represents the different men’s and women’s place in her community, she expresses about the land from where she belongs. Obsessed: Compelled to make was an exhibition which represents the stories of the artist. TjunkayaTapaya tried to create her self-portrait by weaving grasses. Lorraine Connelly Northey weaves in a different way and wishes to bring back traditional woven forms.
Open House
Tamworth Textile Triennial showcased a shark made with ghost-nets. These were the nets which were discarded in the sea. It also showcased cloth dolls made by artists in Queensland. Isolate Make: Creative Resilience in a Pandemic was a project in which the ADC commissioned 9 artists. Lucy Simpson was one of them who collected bullet shells and strung them together into a long necklace which reminds of the aboriginal deaths/ in custody. They also sent out 100 blank journals handmade by indigenous craftsmen and received 60 back which were displayed. These journals consist different views on impact of colonization on indigenous people.
Apart from exhibitions and projects, ADC also organizes lot of talks and events. Recently they organized a series of lecture, like Design 101, etc. ADC also started Object Space- a window gallery located in the window of Australian Design Centre HQ on William Street in Darlinghurst. One of the noteworthy projects of ADC is the Mural project behind the building. It was a collaborative work of Jason Wing, Dennis Golding and Lucy Simpson which represents the connection to the indigenous ancestors. The jewelry project helps the artist create and sell traditional jewelry. These are sold through the object shop.
About the Speaker
Lisa Cahill
CEO and Artistic Director
Australian Design Centre
Darlinghurst NSW
Lisa Cahill joined the Australian Design Centre team as Associate Director in 2015 and in 2016 she was appointed as CEO and Artistic Director. With more than 25 years of experience, just prior to joining ADC, she was the founding CEO of the Australian Design Alliance. She has held various government roles in Canberra and Melbourne, a stint as a ministerial adviser, SBS, the Australia Council for the Arts and the City of Sydney. She was also research manager for the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies. Working variously as a curator, writer and creative producer in the visual and performing arts, Lisa co-curated the Australian exhibition for the Triennale of Craft in Kanazawa, Japan in 2013 and New Weave: Contemporary Approaches to the Traditions of Weaving at ADC in 2014. Currently, Lisa is co-chair of the Australian Craft and Design Centre Network and is a member of the Council of the Sydney Culture Network.
