OpenField First Nations Program
OpenField acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we live, work and create; the Dharawal and Dhurga speaking people. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
Across the festival OpenField will present a program of First Nations artworks and events. We welcome all local Community to come along and take part in any events, ticket or not.
Artist: Jaz Corr
Berry Showground Pavilion
Jaz Corr is an Aboriginal Visual Artist who resides on the South Coast of NSW, Australia. A graduate of Curtin University Western Australia (Boodja) as an Undergraduate Bachelor of Arts (Double Major Fine Art and Visual Culture) and a postgraduate Master of Education (Visual Arts) from the University of Wollongong.
As a proud Dharawal woman, her curiosity of the world has inspired a varied amount of artwork that reflects a critical view of social, political, cultural, and environmental issues. Jaz’s art practice demonstrates effective visual communication appropriate to both studio practice and art critical discourse. She has exhibited works in Sapporo Japan, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Sydney Living Museum, Gerringong Library and Museum, Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation Cultural Centre, Nan Tien Art Gallery and featured on the ABC . She was also the designer of the 2023 Kiama Jazz Festival artwork.
For OpenField, Jaz will be creating a new work with paint and tar that explores truth telling about the Aboriginal history of the Boon Ca Ree (Berry) brothers Broughton (c.1798 - c1850) and Broger (c.1800-1830). She will also be speaking as part of the First Nations Voices Panel on Sunday 25 June at 3pm in the Berry School of Arts.
Artist: Warwick Keen
Princess Street Reserve
Nowra-based Gomeroi man Warwick Keen is a teacher and curator of Aboriginal Cultural Art as well as a practising artist with over 40 years of experience.
He was commissioned to curate “the TERRA within” Aboriginal Artist Exhibition at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in 2020, an exhibition consisting of over 30 Aboriginal Artist responses to the past 250 years of colonisation. He is well known for large scale murals and public artworks, including the UAP/ NRMA Sydney Harbour Fast Ferries Centennial Project and a commission for Wollongong Art Gallery, celebrating 40 years of the gallery’s operation. He also created and developed 3 designs for North Shore Bus Infrastructure cabinets for Transport NSW.
Keen was the Community Artist in Residency at ‘NANIMA’ Aboriginal Community at Wellington NSW in 2019 with his Carved Tree Project, a contemporary representation of the once-practised traditional Art of tree-carving.
For VIVID 2022, Keen created an installation of 150 colour-changing light pillars in Barangaroo Reserve called Nura, which means 'place' or 'country' in Gadigal language.
For OpenField Keen will be acting as a curator and showing his new work SUSPENDED, 2023 in Princess Street Reserve.
Artist Photo by ainslie.co
Artist: Kirli Saunders
Berry Memorial Park
Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning multidisciplinary artist and consultant. An experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment and equality, Kirli was the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year (2020). In 2022, she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to the arts, particularly literature.
For OpenField, Kirli’s sculptural poem ‘We Don’t Cry. We Don’t Miss.’ will be installed in Berry Memorial Park creating a haunting thematic link to the memorial to children of the Stolen Generations across the road at Berry Railway Station. This work features a found and repurposed rusted mattress frame incorporating shiny silver metal lettering which reads "We don’t cry. We don’t miss”, a phrase told to Kirli’s Mum by ‘carers’ in the children’s homes after she was taken away.
It’s a work which aims to confront audiences with our shared history, and create a space where we can collectively acknowledge the eco-grief we feel, and rally to support the self determined actions of First Nations communities, so our kids can learn from Elders and communities can care for Country as they always have.
More about Kirli: https://kirlisaunders.com/
Artist Photo by: Tad Souden on Gundungurra Lands
Panel Discussion: Local First Nations Voices and choir performance by Mudjingaal Yangamba
Berry School of Arts
Sunday 25th June 3pm
$10 for all participants
Join First Nations Curator and Artist, Amanda Reynolds as she leads a discussion around the importance of object, artefact, family, historical and cultural stories, and the history of this area, with local First Nations artists Noel Wellington and Jaz Corr. Special performance by local First Nations choir, Mudjingaal Yangamba, to conclude the event.
Mudjingaal Yangamba means Spirit Singing in Dhurga, one of the original languages spoken on the South Coast. Mudjingaal Yangamba is an intergenerational Koori women's choir revitalising language through song. Writing and singing in their ancestral languages, they gather as community with community, healing, celebrating and sharing our stories.
Artist Photo by ainslie.co
Film: Healing Truth
Berry School of Arts
Healing Truth is a short film based on a series of poems by Yuin writer Kaitlen Wellington. Incorporating music, sound design as well as poetry, the work explores themes of intergenerational trauma and healing, acknowledging the difficult history for First Nations people within the Shoalhaven region. In a cultural context, it’s a symbolic representation of clearing out dead language with new language (through ceremony, language and song).
Kaitlen has collaborated with musicians Russell Webster (Shining Bird), film composer Damien Lane, artist and animator Laurens Tan and the Shoalhaven-based Mudjingaal Yangamba choir, to create this new work.
Credits: Original Concept and Art Design: Kaitlen Wellington, 3D Animation / Visual Design: Laurens Tan, Choreography and Dance: Waangenga Blanco. Footage courtesy of: James Kates, William Robertson, Jay Drury. Audio Production and Score: Damien Lane, Russel Webster. Edited by: Damien Lane, Russel Webster and Jay Drury. Featuring Vocal Performance by the Mudjingaal Yangamba choir. Produced by Balunn Jones, Xanthe Barker and Jay Drury.