The whole community is invited to join with Aboriginal Elders to celebrate the outcomes of the two-year multimedia project Looking Through Windows.
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This project by oral historian and artist Dr. Lorina L. Barker showcases Elders’ stories of mission life, and what it was like to be removed from Country and forced to live under the “protection” of the Aborigines Protection/Welfare Boards.
Dr Barker will host an Elders’ Gathering in the grounds of Booloominbah at the University of New England, Armidale, on December 14, from 10.30am to 2pm
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“Looking Through Windows has engaged with Aboriginal communities in Armidale, Bourke, Brewarrina, Campbelltown, and Redfern,” Dr Barker said.
“It has provided an opportunity for people to reflect, remember, and share their experiences and memories of removal, dispossession, and ‘protection’ by the Aborigines Protection/Welfare Boards and other government agencies in NSW – and share those stories in a format that is accessible across generations and cultures.”
This final Looking Through Windows Elders' Gathering will showcase some of the collaborations between the creative project team, local Aboriginal artists, Elders and cultural knowledge holders in Armidale, Guyra, Uralla, Tingha, Brewarrina, Bourke, Minto, and Campbelltown.
Elders and community are invited to hang out and yarn to pay tribute to, and remember the tenacity and strength of Elders to record and preserve Aboriginal languages and histories that connect them to peoples, identities, cultures, and Countries.
It will include an exhibition of the artworks, the installation of a tin humpy, and a performance of the theatre piece, Trucked-off.
Attendees may want to add their story by pasting photographs, newspaper clippings, stenciling hand prints, or leaving a personal note, poem or story on the wall of the Tin Humpy.
During the project, Elders Gatherings have been held in Armidale, Bourke, Brewarrina and Redfern – providing a safe space for people to connect and reconnect, yarn and share. Elders have had an opportunity to access and take ownership of their stories and shared histories.
A team of artists has worked with and alongside Elders – creating artworks that the Elders and communities have, in turn, endorsed.
Exhibitions have so far been presented in Armidale, Bourke, and Redfern.
“The creative work that has come out of Looking Through Windows presents shared histories in a way that is accessible to the broader community,” Dr Barker said.
“Film, music, photography, and other contemporary media enables younger people to more easily hear and appreciate the Elders' experience. A substantial body of creative work has grown throughout the project as more stories and elements have been added!”
While the project engages with the whole community, at its core are language groups in the New England region including the Anaiwan, Gumbaynggirr, Dunghutti, Gamilaroi, and Banbai, and the language groups from northwest NSW including the Wangkumara, Muruwari, Ngemba, Burrabindja, Kurnu-Baakandji, Gamilaraay, Yuwalaraay southwest QLD the Kooma and Kunja and the Adnyamathanha from the Flinders Rangers SA.
RVSP by Wednesday, December 12, to Hayley Ford, Research Services, University of New England. Phone 6733 3392, or email: hford7@une.edu.au.
‘Looking Through Windows’ has been supported through the Australian Government Department of Communication and the Arts, Indigenous Languages and Arts program and Create NSW Arts, Screen and Culture. It has received additional financial and other support from across the community – including from the University of New England, the JNC Group, and the NED Foundation