NGV celebrates NAIDOC Week with day of First Nations art, music and family events

The National Gallery of Victoria will mark NAIDOC Week with a full day of free programs celebrating First Nations art, culture, music, storytelling and community at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square, on Saturday, July 11.

The program brings together artist talks, live music, dance, guided tours, film screenings, family workshops and meditation, offering visitors of all ages the chance to engage with First Nations voices and creative practice.

A major focus of the day will be Wurrdha Marra, the NGV’s ongoing presentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and design. Meaning “many mobs”, the exhibition explores the breadth of First Nations cultural expression across generations, from historical works to contemporary practice.

NGV Senior Curator of First Nations Art Dr Jessica Clark will lead a Wurrdha Marra highlights tour from 11.40am, guiding visitors through key works in the exhibition.

Dr Clark will also be joined by Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie for a short artist talk on his mural-scale multi-panel work Initiation, 2013. Rennie’s practice combines the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage with the visual language of graffiti, using bold patterning, symbols and diamond-shaped designs to challenge narrow ideas of Aboriginal identity.

Wadawurrung artist Kait James (pictured above) will also speak with Dr Clark about her works in Wurrdha Marra. James is known for using punch-needling techniques on found materials such as souvenir tea towels, transforming colonial imagery into contemporary reflections on language, native title, authenticity and identity.

Music will feature strongly in the program, with iconic Pitjantjatjara and Mirning singer-songwriter Bart Willoughby performing live inside Wurrdha Marra from 3pm.

Willoughby, a pioneering Indigenous performer and founding member of No Fixed Address, is known for songs including We Have Survived, Black Mans Rights and Aboriginal Woman. In 1993, he received the inaugural ARIA Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Indigenous music.

Dance performances will be presented by Indigenous Outreach Projects (pictured below), also known as I-OP Hip Hop Crew, at 12.45pm and 1.30pm. The culturally diverse national collective has spent more than two decades engaging young people through music, dance and wellbeing messages under its motto, “No Shame, Be Proud, Respect.”

Another highlight will be Mentors, Makers, Mob, a conversation between Boneta-Marie Mabo and Megan Cope, moderated by Dr Clark. The pair will discuss collaboration, mentorship and the development of Mabo’s installation Colonial threads as part of FUTURE COUNTRY: Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions.

The same exhibition will provide the setting for a guided meditation (pictured below) led by Yorta Yorta educator and dancer Thara Brown, inspired by Jahkarli Felicitas Romanis’ photographic installation of Pitta Pitta Country.

Families will also be well catered for, with badge-making, a Ku’ camp dog drawing activity, a children’s tour with Dr Deanne Gilson and a free FOLLOW ME! activity trail through MOTHER: Stories from the NGV Collection.

Visitors can also drop in throughout the day for short films created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students through the Victorian Young Leaders First Nations Program, exploring identity, leadership, culture and self-determination.

A cross-gallery tour with the Koorie Heritage Trust will explore how First Nations artworks are cared for and preserved, beginning at NGV before continuing at KHT.

All programs are free, with some bookings recommended. Full details are available via the NGV website.