SOLD OUT Ceremony: First Nations languages lecture and panel discussion

Thank you for your interest in our First Nations languages forum. We have now reached our maximum capacity for this event.

About this event

In association with the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony and the UQ School of Languages and Cultures, please join us for an evening of discussion about First Nations languages. Professor Clint Bracknell will present a public lecture before joining Professor Felicity Meakins and artist Robert Andrew for a panel discussion chaired by Robert dhurwain McLellan, UQ Industry Fellow in Indigenous Languages.

Program

5:30pm: Public lecture: Professor Clint Bracknell.

6:00pm: Panel discussion with Professor Bracknell, artist Robert Andrew and Professor Felicity Meakins, chaired by Robert dhurwain McLellan, UQ Industry Fellow in Indigenous Languages.

6:30pm: Complimentary refreshments served in the Art Museum foyer.

The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony

The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony is the National Gallery of Australia’s flagship exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.

Ceremony remains central to the creative practice of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. From the intimate and personal to the collective and collaborative, ceremonies manifest through visual art, film, music and dance.

Featuring the work of artists from across Australia, this exhibition reveals how ceremony is at the nexus of Country, of culture and of community.

Ceremony is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition supported by the Australian Government through Visions of Australia and National Collection Institutions Touring and Outreach Program. The exhibition is made possible through the continued generosity of the National Gallery’s Indigenous Arts Partner Wesfarmers Arts and key philanthropic supporters.

The University of Queensland Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of The Honourable Anthe Philippides SC in supporting this important exhibition for the Art Museum's audiences.

Public lecture: Professor Clint Bracknell

Maya Keniny: Language and performance revitalisation

Although the challenges inherent to language revitalisation remain, the International Decade of Indigenous Languages begins amid increasing engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages across Australia. Drawing on Noongar language revitalisation efforts sustained since the 1980s and over a decade of research and collaboration, this public lecture will discuss the percolation of Noongar language though film, television, theatre, and music.

Panel discussion: First Nations languages

Robert Andrew

Robert is a descendant of the Yawuru people, whose Country includes the lands and waters in and around Rubibi/Broome in the Kimberley region, Western Australia. A kinetic sculptor, Andrew explores his Yawuru ancestry through his practice and engages with modes of visual storytelling that rely on programmable technologies. For the last 20 years he has been based in Meanjin/Brisbane on Jagera and Turrbal Country. In 2012 Andrew graduated with a Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Meanjin/Brisbane, and subsequently received a Doctorate in Visual Arts in 2019. In 2013 he was awarded the Griffith University Medal of Excellence and five years later won the 2018 Alice Prize. Andrew’s public artwork Garabara 2018 was commissioned for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Building, University of Sydney, and his work was included the 2019 edition of The National: New Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Afterglow, the 2020 Yokohama Triennale in Japan.

Professor Clint Bracknell

Clint Bracknell is a Noongar musician, ethnomusicologist, and Professor of Indigenous Languages at the University of Queensland, who leads a program of Australian Research Council (ARC) funded work including a project to revitalise the song traditions of the Noongar language of South Western Australia. He has investigated connections between song, language, and landscapes in this region for over a decade, co-developing Noongar language resources. In 2020 he received the Barrett Award for Australian Studies for his research in this field. Clint serves as Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) council.

Robert dhurwain McLellan

Robert is proud Gooreng Gooreng descendant of the Wide Bay region and an experienced Director and governance practitioner. He is currently appointed as an Industry Fellow with the UQ School of Languages and Cultures and a Program Manager for the Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA) led by UQ. He is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders ANZ. His professional experience also extends into cultural studies with a focus on Indigenous languages, sociology, arts and communications. A strong advocate for truth telling and speaking up for Aboriginal people’s rights and justice, economic advancement, and to ensure First Nations voices are authentically valued and embraced across all levels of society, Robert is a leader who is passionate about building culturally inclusive, honourable, and cohesive communities.

Professor Felicity Meakins

Felicity is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Queensland and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. She is a field linguist who specialises in the documentation of First Nations languages in northern Australia and the effect of English on these languages. She has worked as a community linguist as well as an academic over the past 20 years, facilitating language revitalisation programs, consulting on Native Title claims and conducting research into First Nations languages. She has compiled a number of dictionaries and grammars and has written numerous papers on language change in Australia. Felicity is a Fellow in the Academy for Social Sciences Australia (ASSA). She has received various awards for her research including the 2021 Eureka Award for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research along with team members, and the 2021 Linguistic Society of America's Kenneth L Hale Award for Linguistic fieldwork.

Image credit: Installation view, 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, The University of Queensland Art Museum, 2022, featuring: Darrell Sibosado, Bard people, Ngarrgidj Morr (the proper path to follow), 2022, commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra for the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony © the artist.

S.J. Norman, Wiradjuri people, Bone library, 2012/22, commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra for the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony, created in consultation with Walgalu/Wolgalu Traditional Custodians, and with the support of David Paul © the artist, photograph: Louis Lim