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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-19 Daily Xml
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Nexus Arts

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister inform the council about the In_Site: First Nations Emerging Curator Program and the current exhibition at the Nexus Arts Gallery?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:35): I would like to thank the honourable new member for his question and his longstanding interest in and appreciation of the arts. It was a distinct honour to officially open the exhibition at Nexus Arts Gallery last week entitled Internally disPLACEd: borders and belonging. It is an important exhibition, curated by Wakka Wakka woman Dameeli Coates, exploring how Aboriginal peoples' connection to country interacts with the colonial notions of borders. The exhibition explored the way in which we take country with us even if we are physically different or distant from it. It shone a light on some of the wrongs of colonisation, particularly the dispossession and forced movement of many Aboriginal people.

The exhibition was a result of the In_Site: First Nations Emerging Curator Program, which is a partnership between Nexus Arts and the Flinders University Museum of Art, supported by the South Australian government. It is an innovative program which aims to widen the participation of First Nations people in the museums and galleries sector here in South Australia and around the country. In particular, it allows First Nations curators to access the support of Nexus and the Flinders University Museum of Art and to forge their own pathway into the industry. It is important work that I am proud that South Australian institutions are involved in.

The exhibition itself is, I believe, still on display at the Nexus Arts Gallery on North Terrace, near where the Jam Factory is. Nexus Arts is an important cultural institution in our state and particularly focuses on work reflecting the diversity of our society. It originated as the Multicultural Arts Workers Committee in the 1980s to its current position as a leading arts centre, and it has done much work to highlight important issues in our society.

I would particularly like to pay tribute to Emily Tulloch, the CEO and artistic director of Nexus Arts, for all the work that she leads in this organisation. The works in this particular exhibition include a piece by the curator, Dameeli Coates, entitled I carrycountry. They are woven containers made of recycled and discarded materials, as well as reeds from the artist's garden. They are designed to be reminiscent of scratchy mission blankets and also reflect that even when Aboriginal people are off country we carry country with us wherever we go.

Similarly, many of the works in the exhibition draw on the Seven Sisters dreaming story about the origin of the seven stars that make up that cluster. This story is one of the most widely distributed across Aboriginal communities around Australia in relation to creation stories and reflects on the fact that many elements of country can be found wherever you travel across Australia.

I commend this exhibition to all honourable members and anyone else who is interested in a thought-provoking exhibition which explores some very important concepts for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. It was an honour to play a role in the opening of the exhibition. I look forward to seeing what comes next in the In_Site: First Nations Emerging Curator Program.

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