This month John Curtin Gallery celebrates NAIDOC week with an exhibition entitled ‘Noongar Native Title: Noongar Works from the Curtin University of Technology’ curated by emerging curator Chad Creighton. Zoe Carter spoke to Chad about the upcoming exhibition.
‘The exhibition that I developed at John Curtin Gallery for NAIDOC week is a reflection on the native title case of 2006, the Noongar native title decision [Bennell v. State of Western Australia, currently the subject of an appeal by the State Government], using the work to show how Noongar artists represent their connection to Country. That case holds great importance not just to Noongar people but to indigenous people – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people all around Australia who may have their traditional land where a city has been developed. I think if the Noongar case is successful it provides hope to other indigenous people.
‘There’s work by Noongar artists who have been influenced by artists of the Carollup School, artists like Athel Farmer [Moordi Pa], Graham [Swag] Taylor, Philip Hanson, and Malcom Ellis. They’re all very different works, but they all fall in that landscape tradition of the children who attended Carollup. I think it’s a very complex thing to get your head around how today’s Noongar artists have followed in that tradition. The original Carollup children’s artwork shows that even in the 1940’s Noongar people did have a traditional connection to the land because they show Corroboree scenes. These are things that those children had seen before they moved into this Carollup School, which was a Native Settlement set up to take children away from their families. They [the Carollup artists] show a land that is pre-European settlement, it shows their love for country and maybe that could be evidence that shows there is another level of indigenous connection to country that can be used in the court case. Today’s generation of Noongar artists who are painting in that style and who are painting those kind of scenes show great love for country.
‘There’s a work by Chris Pease, which is a take on the film BBQ Area (1989), which turns the idea of white settlement around on itself and indigenous people are the ones who come to Australia and settle. [The film] starts off with a scene where Aboriginal people are pulling in on a boat into a BBQ area. There’s some guys with stubbie shorts, cooking some snaggers and [the Aboriginals] ask, ‘what’s this place called?’ [The guys] say ‘BBQ Area.’ So, [the Aboriginals] call it BBQ area.
‘The painting shows Aboriginal people wearing suits and walking around St Georges Terrace. It’s called “9am St Georges Tceâ€Â, and the person sitting down on the steps smoking a cigarette is a white Australian. It kind of shows that switch and that maybe if things had gone differently in the past for Aboriginal people, especially Noongar people, with a treaty or something like that, maybe Aboriginal people would be the majority rather than the minority.
‘There’s a work from Julie Dowling called “Land Rights Annie†which speaks about her pride in the land rights movement starting from about 1950. It depicts her auntie in her youth, a very strong woman who was very active in a lot of areas, especially with nursing and indigenous health. She was also involved in the land rights movement. It shows her pride in her people and young people standing up for land rights in 50’s and 60’s.
‘I would have loved to have been able to commission work for [the exhibition], but this was just a small project and I didn’t have much of a budget for it. Hopefully out of this some Noongar artists will come up from the South West and from around Perth and have a look and maybe develop their own exhibition.
‘Originally, I was going to pull the best work that they have, but it’s been done about three times in the past. Their collection [Curtin University] has quite a few works that are contemporary Noongar works that follow in the Carollup tradition. So, I thought it would be a really good opportunity to do something like that. I tried to show the influence of the Carollup School and add some more contemporary work.
‘The main reason I chose to curate an exhibition like this was when the decision for Native Title first came out for Noongar people there was a whole bunch of scaremongering, and things like that. I think it’s very important that people do see both sides to things and appreciate other people, appreciate what Noongar people have to offer. These artworks are like treasures. I feel like Noongar people have been pushed out a bit and maybe it’s time to bring everyone back together.’
‘Noongar Native Title: Noongar Works from the Curtin University of Technology’ runs until July 13 at the John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University.
