Waraburra Nura

Manning Nolan-Laykoski

doi:10.5130/nesais.v5i1.1581

Abstract

My visit to the UTS’s Indigenous Art Collection and the Waraburra Nura (the Happy Wanderers place) Indigenous garden afforded me the opportunity to re-engage once again with the knowledge that my white privilege has a black history. As a member of the Munnungali clan and Yugambeh Nation-Language people who reside in the Bouedesert area of the Gold Coast Hinterland, I am already deeply connected and sensitive to issues of Colonial representations of history, the role of Indigenism in contesting Western knowledge orthodoxies, the importance of pushing back against the reproduction of the colonised as fixed identities and why under-theorizing the deprived and disadvantaged Australian Indigenous human condition, allows it to proliferate. As a whole, Jennifer Newman’s and Alice McAuliffe’s talk and the artwork on display reflected Indigenous survival, resilience and thriving. It also reflected the relationship between art and politics, not only because it represented both Western and Indigenous political ideology, through an account of political events of historical moments in time, but also because it illustrated how the artist themselves (since their art production is a commitment to a political stance) belong to the political realm.

Highlights

In the Western context, art is often a demonstration of authority and power
As a member of the Munnungali clan and Yugambeh Nation-Language people who reside in the Bouedesert area of the Gold Coast Hinterland, I am already deeply connected and sensitive to issues of Colonial representations of history, the role of Indigenism in contesting Western knowledge orthodoxies, the importance of pushing back against the reproduction of the colonised as fixed identities and why under-theorizing the deprived and disadvantaged Australian Indigenous human condition, allows it to proliferate
Jennifer Newman’s and Alice McAuliffe’s talk and the artwork on display reflected Indigenous survival, resilience and thriving. It reflected the relationship between art and politics, because it represented both Western and Indigenous political ideology, through an account of political events of historical moments in time, and because it illustrated how the artist themselves belong to the political realm

Summary

Introduction

In the Western context, art is often a demonstration of authority and power. Reflexively nonWestern Indigenous art produced and displayed within the Western context illustrates questions of colonialism, sovereignty and appropriation. My visit to the UTS’s Indigenous Art Collection and the Waraburra Nura (the Happy Wanderers place) Indigenous garden afforded me the opportunity to re-engage once again with the knowledge that my white privilege has a black history.

Results

Conclusion