Conference Papers
Session CG3.2 Representation, intergenerational connections and Identity
1. Gretchen Marie Stolte: Who to ask? Intergenerational development of cultural protocols in Torres Strait Islander visual arts
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow
How do different generations of indigenous artists relate to each other in contemporary art studios? In an urban studio on the TAFE campus in Cairns, Queensland, away from traditional communities and presumed ways of traditional life, Torres Strait Islanders are exploring contemporary ways of representing self and community. This exploration confronts many stereotypes and expectations including the important issue of how cultural protocols within Torres Strait Islander visual arts are created. What should be represented and how? What should not be painted? What are and where should acceptable images come from? As observed within an indigenous arts studio, mature-aged and younger students engaged with each other quite regularly to discuss these concerns. Contrary to potential expectations, it is not always the oldest student who was termed ‘an elder’ but the student who was considered the most ‘culturally’ knowledgeable in addressing these concerns. In many cases, older students deferred and asked advice of younger students who were considered more ‘in the know’ – going so far as to call the younger person ‘an elder’. This paper will discuss how contemporary Torres Strait Islander artists used the term ‘elder’ as well as how art production is both an individual and group journey connecting all generations.
Author bio: I am a PhD candidate in anthropology at the Australian National University’s School of Archaeology & Anthropology. I have degrees in art history (BA - honours, University of Oregon, USA) and anthropology (Masters of Anthropology, ANU), with a focus on the art of indigenous Australians. I have just completed fifteen months of fieldwork, studying a range of artists in the visual arts program at the TAFE campus in Cairns, Queensland. My thesis deals with art and identity production among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
2. Ingrid Cumming: Gnullar Woort Koorliny - Our Way Forward
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow
There are a lot of negative images and perceptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in society and this is largely due to little interaction a lot of non indigenous people have with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Additionally, the majority of images and stories they do hear are usually negative. It also warps the perception that young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people see and understand about the essence of their own identity. As the nation goes forward to Closing the Gap, we need to introduce our non Indigenous brothers and sisters to positive and ‘real’ representations of what IS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and people. We also need to introduce and integrate ‘real’ images and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture into the hearts and minds of our youth (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non Indigenous). By doing this we significantly start to shift the mind frames and perceptions that exist in this country and start to significantly spearhead racism and discrimination before it has a chance to spread within the next generation. We do this by encouraging and enticing people to see and hear another perspective about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture that is inclusive and positive while also educating society with the history and facts in a non confrontational manner. In this way we educate and enlighten by embracing our diverse and unique cultural backgrounds. This presentation will look at my personal journey and how ‘culture’ has changed my life, experiences working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non Indigenous youth through ‘cultural experience’ workshops that include dance and art and my future aspirations to promote my mantra of 'positive thoughts and actions promote positive futures'.
Author bio: Ingrid Cumming is a custodian and traditional owner of Whadjuk Nyungar country. Ingrid has worked in many areas including national and local indigenous media (including film, radio and print), marketing and communications, state health, the arts, anthropological research and now Managing Director of her own Indigenous Consultancy 'Kart Koort Wiern'. As a graduate of a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Australian Indigenous Studies at Murdoch University, Ingrid has also graduated from the Management and Academic Leadership Program, presented at the 2007 International Anti – Racism Conference at Murdoch University on ‘Women’s Voices - Women’s rights within the Australian Legal system’, came 3rd in the National Indigenous Comedy Competition – Deadly Funnies, selected to attend the National stakeholders forum for the FaCHSIA National Healing Foundation Conference in Adelaide 2009, selected to attend the Oxfam Australia Strait Talk Summit in Canberra 2010, selected for the National Brilliant Young Minds summit 2010, advisor in the PHD research group ‘Urban Aboriginal Women’s Beliefs and Attitudes to Sexual Violence’, advisory for the Virgin Unite project for Virgin Australia and board Member of Waalitch Pty. Ltd. Apart from welcomes, Ingrid also is a performer and teacher of Nyungar women’s dances, language and cultural practises and mentor and young leader in the Nyungar Community. Her aspirations are to be the first Aboriginal Woman Prime Minister in Australian history (see facebook page), to inspire, mentor and lead youth into positions of leadership, to promote reconciliation and to promote and encourage the idea that positive minds and actions create positive futures.
3. Irene Howe: Old and Young: Aboriginal Poetry from the Inside
Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow
Some of the finest examples of Aboriginal literature were born of incarceration. Aboriginal writers, such as Robert Walker and Kevin Gilbert, received a better education behind bars than they ever did as a free men. “Writing is not the only recourse to healing. Some Aboriginal prisoners reconnect with their cultural origins and spiritual traditions while in prison”. (Gluck and Fulcher 2006:92). In 1992, The Koori Mail, a young newspaper at that time, established a connection with Aboriginal prisoners, providing them with a column in the paper for their contributions, whether it was poetry, essays, drawing, or community greetings. This link was particularly important to Aboriginal prisoners who had been separated from their communities. It not only had given prisoners an opportunity to give voice to the political and communal issues on the outside, but a form of expression which enabled them to tell and build on their stories using language and their context (social, historical, and cultural). This process of eliciting their stories through poetry is a powerful and continuing form of expression that enables prisoners to reinforce and value their expertise, critical to their self-rehabilitation. Through their poetry, this paper examines the connection between the older and younger generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, incarcerated in Australian prisons. It focuses on the poems of poets, found mostly in the Koori Mail, dating from 1992, and the similarities to the issues and the concerns written about in the previous decades. This paper compares and contrasts these poems looking to map commonalities and differences in content and structure. This paper hopes to contribute to the scholarship on prison literature by tracing the careers of selected poets whose careers began while they were incarcerated. It will also touch on the work of poets who, as victims of Deaths in Custody, will remain forever young.
Author bio: Irene Howe is a single mother of Aboriginal, Islander, and European descent. She began her tertiary education after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Irene graduated from The University of Queensland, with a Bachelor of Arts with an extended Major in Archaeology/Anthropology in 2010, and is currently doing her Honours degree in Archaeology, with an interest in Heritage management.