OBSERVER: Arts House
Arts House transforms into a space of healing and cultural sovereignty
Blak Women’s Healing is a significant Yirramboi program and whole-building takeover at Arts House curated by Wemba-Wemba and Gunditjmara visual artist and academic, Dr Paola Balla, to be presented from April 23 to May 17.
An exhibition of visual, oral, text-based and material culture, Blak Women’s Healing is centred on Aboriginal women’s stories and resistance that recognise the trauma, survival and self-determined desires for justice, peace and wellbeing.
Balla says her art and research amplifies the voices and lived experiences of Aboriginal women: “Blak Women’s Healing acknowledges the grief, strength and continuation of our culture.”
Created by Aboriginal women, Blak Women’s Healing is a cultural collaboration informed by ongoing community research and healing arts practices through dialogues about Country, place.
The other Aboriginal women collaborators working with Balla to deliver Blak Women’s Healing include:
n Cousins and Sisters – a group of aunties from Echuca: Aunty Margie Tang, Aunty Donna Mitchel and Aunty Denise Morgan. For decades they have worked towards healing and addressing racism, health and education inequalities through weaving, artwork and community collective work.
n Kath Apma Penangke Travis – a Stolen Generation survivor, historian and postdoctoral fellow in the Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit at Victoria University. Her research investigates the process of decolonising the archives, reclaiming and reframing First Nations family her-stories that reimagine inter-generational healing.
Blak women from the western suburbs – inspiring voices of Aboriginal women that continue to educate others about the need to live in peace without harassment, child removal and violence against them and future generations.
The centrepiece of Blak Women’s Healing is Balla’s 2021 large-scale mixed-media installation, Murrup (ghost) Weaving in Rosie Kuka Lar (Grandmother’s Camp) – it is a recognition to her grandmother, who taught her to see Country through art.
Balla’s bush-dyeing is a slow lesson about the healing process. Time is spent talking and walking in local landscapes to collect small samples of plants, sticks, branches and foliage. These objects are carefully placed in cloth bundles and brewed in large pots of water and vinegar for 1-3 hours to create fabrics marked by Country that trigger senses and memories.
“Bush-dyeing is a laborious and involved learning process which I find soothing. Deep listening and being present is critical to this work. It is repetitive, meditative and holds all of the attributes of mindfulness practice,” says Balla.
Event Dates: April 23 – May 17. Mon .– Fri., 10.30am – 430pm; Sat, 11am – 4pm. Closed Sundays and public holidays.
artshouse.com.au
Cheryl Threadgold