Connection to Country: Australian Museum x Vivid Ideas

This event has sold out. Discover more exciting events and programs.

Event: 5pm - 9pm

Talk: 6.30pm - 7.30pm

Ages: Recommended for ages 16+

Connection to Country will include an Auslan interpreter.

Australian First Nations Cultures have been caring for Country for over 60,000 years. Spend an evening learning how the oldest surviving knowledge on earth, around water and land-care management, is the key to the future. This night of talks, music, weaving circles and more has been curated by multi-disciplinary theatre maker, choreographer and artist Jacob Boehme and features renowned artists including Nadeena Dixon, Henrietta Baird and Aunty Karleen.

Join Rudi Bremer, host of the ABC RN show Awaye!, in a robust conversation about the future of the Murray Darling Basin with Barkindji Knowledge Holder and Healer, David Doyle, and Barkindji curator, artist and researcher, Zena Cumpston. After the talk you can expand your knowledge about local native plants from the Sydney Basin region. Drop in and yarn with First Nations landscapers from Dhinawhan, as they share practical tips and methods for restoring Country through a practice they call ‘Landback Architecture’. Afterwards, explore the Barka: The Forgotten River exhibition (free) to learn more about the Darling River and the people who have Barka running in their veins. Songwoman and artist Nadeena Dixon (Wiradjuri, Yuin and Gadigal), will perform songs from and of Country. Nadeena’s cultural practice includes dance, song, weaving, contemporary theatre storytelling and contemporary ceremony.

Throughout the evening you can join Aunty Karleen’s weaving circle and create your own memento to take home and listen to the tunes on the deck spun by Gadigal lad and Koori Radio host, DJ Shark. The evening will be hosted by Kuku Yalanji/Yidinji multimedia artist Henrietta Baird.

Rudi Bremer has been a radio broadcaster since 2012. Having honed her skills at community radio, Rudi initially joined the ABC as a master control technician before returning to her producer roots in 2017. She has a unique perspective on how the ABC works — from chasing interviews to switching satellites. As the presenter of RN Awaye! and Listen’s Little Yarns on ABC Kids, Rudi relishes the opportunity to share her love of performing arts, literature and Indigenous languages — like her own, Gamilaraay.

Zena Cumpston is a Barkandji woman with family and ancestral connection to Wilcannia, Broken Hill and Menindee in western New South Wales. Zena is a writer and also works as a curator, researcher and artist. In 2021 she curated the exhibition Emu Sky for the Ian Potter Museum of Art, exploring Aboriginal knowledge and bringing together over 30 Aboriginal community members. She also spent 2021 writing for the Australian State of the Environment Report across several chapters. In 2022 her co-authored book Plants; past, present future was published as part of the First Knowledges series. Zena’s linocut prints and weaving practice are featured in the exhibition ngaratya (together, us group, all in it together), opening in Melbourne in May 2023 at Bunjil Place Gallery and touring nationally. Her linocut prints, research and writing will also feature as part of the Soils exhibition at the TarraWarra Museum of Art from August 2023.

David Doyle is a Barkindji/Malyangapa man based in Broken Hill, NSW. His family is from the Menindee region of the Baaka, or Darling River. Following the traditions of his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Doyle is an emerging carver and artist. He makes carved emu eggs, mussel shell jewellery, and wooden objects including bowls and sculptures. Doyle also is a Knowledge Holder of Barkindji bush medicines and edible plants. He produces medicinal lotions, tinctures and soaps using these same medicines.