Language identifies who we are as Aboriginal people; it signifies our membership in a community, where we are from, our Country.

Theresa shares her knowledge of language retrieval and revival through a longstanding collaboration with the Unconformity Arts Festival, writing for the inaugural edition of MOONLAND and producing a short film for UNTV, ‘Statement for Country’.

Theresa met with Rob Braslin at Constitution Dock, alongside his ‘Inside Out’ installation, for a relaxed yarn about Palawa connections to the river and the importance of saltwater Country.

Constructed from discarded man-made litter, found objects and everyday debris, the artwork transforms waste into a powerful visual statement about our relationship with the river and the impact of human activity.

The aim of the discussion with Theresa, and other guest speakers in this series, was to give a voice to the waterway and to highlight its environmental, cultural and community importance while encouraging a deeper understanding of its past, present and future.

Resin, kelp, (Durvillaea potatorum), sound

The model basket, printed from a 3D digital model, acts as a place holder representing our rikawa so far from Country and Community for so long.

Held by the british museum, london, and the musée du quai branly – jacques chirac, paris, this circa 1840s rikawa was made by our Ancestors to hold and carry water; a life-sustaining resource and practice.

This is our cry for rikawa to come home, to rest and reconnect. It also speaks to the potential role of digital technology in recording cultural heritage and aiding in repatriation.

Part of taypani milaythina-tu: Return to Country exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

Within An Utterance continued the work of Robert Andrew, excavating biography—his own, and others’—and unearthing lost family histories, in collaboration with Pakana curator Zoe Rimmer, Aboriginal linguistic consultant Theresa Sainty and cultural burning practitioner and Wakka Wakka man Luke Mabb.

Three new works delved into the buried history of Lutruwita (Tasmania) and respond to conversations Robert has had with local speakers of palawa kani: the revived language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people; and a complex ongoing project drawing upon community memory, extant voice recordings and European written records of the island’s original languages.

Curated by Emma Pike

This basket is based on an original by Pakana weaver Zoe Rimmer. It was woven from nutipa (River Reed, Schoenoplectus pungens) in the way of the ancestral women.