Led by FORM, the CSR Project team is a pool of talented professionals with extensive experience working in Indigenous and cultural development over many years. The Project was conceived in 2006 by Carly Davenport Acker and Tim Acker, and is coordinated by this duo.The CSR Project team is a truly collaborative one, with the Emerging Aboriginal Curators and Multimedia Practitioners playing a significant role in the development and curation of the world class touring exhibition and associated cultural, artistic and historic material, with mentoring from some of Australia’s leading experts in the field.
The realisation of the Project is built on the energetic collaboration of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal arts and cultural workers - curators, art centre managers, cultural advisors, anthropologists, language workers, filmmakers, photographers, writers, fundraisers, designers, and a strong support crew and team of volunteers.
TERRY MURRAY
EMERGING CURATOR
Terry is a Walmajarri, Wangkajunga and Juwaliny man. His homeland is in the Great Sandy Desert region. His traditional country is Japingka and he lives in Fitzroy Crossing with his family.
Terry’s father Peter Skipper and grandfather Jimmy Pike were both strong artists and leaders who greatly inspired him both as artists and in the way they lived their lives.
‘When I think about them I get really emotional. They always told me
stories, expressing emotion and spiritual feeling through their art. They were so strong! I always asked questions and talked all the time to them.
‘I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for them. It’s the song-lines and dance movement of family that is really important. That we are connected, and how we, as a culture, come together, and how we respect each other in our different ways.
‘In my work, I try to always think about passing on the knowledge to the next generation of family. I’ve got three kids. Putting my footsteps in my grandfathers, I think about how they lived: being strong, connected to their land.
‘I worked as an arts worker at Mangkaja Arts for seven years [and] went to Spain with Wally (Caruana) in 2004 for an exhibition. I’m inspired by looking at different cultures and different art. Aboriginal art is our way, our tradition, I also relate to famous artists around the world. How, as artists, we come to terms with our world around us.
LOUISE MENGIL
EMERGING CURATOR
Louise lives in Kununurra and works as an assistant at Waringarri Aboriginal Art Centre. She is 24 and studying an Accounting degree at Curtin University. She has two children.
Louise valued her childhood and liked spending time with the old, traditional people of the Mirruwong and Gadjerriong tribes. She learnt the languages, traditional lifestyle as well as seeing lots of their country. When she was young she sought out trips with her father and travelled to Kununurra to Wunan (Turkey Creek), places in the Northern Territory like the Keep River National Park, and as far as Timber Creek. She learnt how the different
Aboriginal tribes of theses region were involved with each other and found how different the languages where as well as Law business.
Louise says her father inspires her in many ways, such as having the passion to learn about Aboriginal history, law and native title business and helping the Mirruwong and Gadjerriong people claim for their country. Louise says “I have gone through this journey with my father and my people, I was only 7 years old when all of the native title started and we eventually was heard when I turned 14, so a long 7 years but amazing and educating journey.”
“The Canning Stock Route history is something I have never learnt about at school but my elders know. My role as a curator is really important in this Project. I’m learning things that help me with my work at Waringarri too. One of my goals is to one day manage the art centre.”
HAYLEY ATKINS
EMERGING CURATOR
Hayley says Jigalong community is really her home, though she lives in Newman because of her love for working with Martumili Artists.
‘I was in Jigalong not doing anything. I wanted to do something. Gabrielle said to me “You could do a little bit of work here for Martumili.” She asked me if I could work full time - so I started working for them. I felt happy inside working for my own people with my own job. That’s where I learnt a lot of history and background for my people and learned how to paint. I learnt where my family came from in the desert. My family was strong to learn to
survive in the bush. I started to investigate how they survived, no blanket or anything….walking long distances. I learnt the story of all the paintings. I didn’t know before. I thought it was just a picture but it has all this meaning to it.
I knew we were Aboriginal people and we had Law. Now that I am working, I work with the school kids and they don’t know how to paint but they are getting better and better. Their painting is really strong now too – rock holes, bush food and hunting. I want to work with all six communities – so they know about the Canning Stock Route. So they know where their families come from, where their grandfathers and grandmothers come from. Keep our history and Martu culture strong. At school and home you learn two ways. My family wasn’t into art. I didn’t know about it before. When you paint a story of your life, family, history and culture you become part of it. The kids are part of it too.’
CLINT DIXON
EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER
I’m 28 yrs old. I live in Broome and lived here all my childhood life till now. My language group is Bardi/Yawuru. My mother is a Bardi woman from the Peninsula - in One Arm Point North of Broome - and my father is a Yawuru man from the Broome area itself.
I work at Goolarri Media Enterprises in Broome and have been working there for nearly 14 months on the Certificate III in Screen. I first started working in February 2007 as a trainee camera operator and also learning editing and sound. I am now in training to become a Director.
I really enjoy my job - it’s very exciting and I get to learn new experiences working with a lot of different people every day. I’m really happy too because my short film, Mudman, has been selected to be shown at the Beijing Olympics!
My biggest achievement, here at Goolarri, was having no experience in computing and basically no skills operating a camera. They taught me everything I needed to know and now I’m a Trainee Director (COOL). I’d like to thank Goolarri for giving me the opportunity to work with FORM on the Canning Stock Route Project, which really opened my eyes to seeing there’s a whole new world out there waiting for each and every one of us to experience.
The most exciting moment for me so far was when I met the Premier (Alan Carpenter) in Parliament House in Perth. I was really nervous because I haven’t met anyone from the politician side of things; he was really nice guy.
Big thanks to FORM for letting me be a part of their team and giving me the chance to show my skills and working with Nicole Ma who’s also being my mentor on this Project.
At the end of all I have achieved I would like to pass my knowledge to younger Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who would like to be a part of the media world.
‘I always like to get more information and ideas and ask questions. I was the youngest painter on the Ngurrara canvas and travelled with it. I hope to travel and keep working for this Project too.’
Clint currently works as a school attendance officer at Fitzroy Crossing High School and has recently qualified as a Walmajarri translator, assisting old people at the Karrayili Adult Education Centre by translating English into Walmajarri.
A painter himself, Clint has exhibited his work around Australia. He also performs with his elders a number of dances belonging to the Great Sandy Desert and is the youngest Executive member of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre.
MORIKA BILJABU
PHOTOGRAPHER AND EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER
Morika is twenty years old and lives in the community of Punmu in the heart of Martu country. Through her schooling and filmmaking Morika has lived and travelled in other parts of Australia; but it’s Martu country that always draws her home.
Morika has a strong sense of belonging to her community and says that it is her family and friends that makes her most happy:
‘I’ve got everything here’. She also considers her other home to be the community of Parngurr ‘…that’s my family side, too. My grandmother and aunty there. That’s their country’.
On the Canning Stock Route Trip (2007) Morika filmed and produced Nana in the Project’s bush studio. Nana celebrates her grandmother, Jakayu, singing for her country.
‘My work is fun! I learn loads of different stuff and take pictures of the old people. Always learning, watching them paint.’
Also on the trip, Morika shot hundreds of photographs that will be featured in the Project’s book and exhibition. In October 2007, Morika recorded the first Emerging Curators meeting in Perth. In May 2008, Morika and the Martumili Artists returned to Kunawarritji for a weaving and painting workshop. Employed by the CSR Project, Morika recorded all the action and oral histories of the artists and her family. Her shots subsequently featured in the The Weekend Australian Magazine.
‘KJ’ KENNETH MARTIN
EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER AND FILMMAKER
KJ was born in 1982. His mother’s people come from north of Halls Creek in Gija country and his father’s people come from the area around Doon Doon Station. He lives in Halls Creek. ‘After high-school, I started out as a Night Patrol Manager for a couple of years, coordinating all the workers for the community. Then I worked as part of a construction crew at Halls Creek Shire. For seven years now I’ve been working at the Radio Station with my own program telling jokes and playing music – all kinds of music, but mostly country music. I’ve also worked a long time now at Kimberley Language Resource Centre (KLRC) as Audio Visual Project Officer.
‘When my first kid was born, I started filming my daughter. Capturing how she was growing up on film and I’d watch the whole lot on playback – that’s when I first got interested in film. At KLRC they’ve got an editing system, and that’s what started it all. So I was happy to work on a Language Centre documentary. Now, I’ve also got my Training Certificate 3 in Screen from Goolarri Media.
‘I’m keen to know about all the old people’s stories, their life stories which tells all the history about Halls Creek. There are two versions of history the kartiya (non-Indigenous) side and the old timers’ who started out as station hands earning not much [and] went on to own the stations!
‘In 2007 I flew to Kunawarritji and met all the artists and the team for this Project. I travelled with them all the way up for nearly three weeks back home to Halls, taking photos, learning about all the different groups and understanding why painting is important. I made a film out there in the desert too and now I’m filming the curators building this exhibition. I hope to make more films about this area, stories about Halls Creekrk (1993, updated 2003.
CARLY DAVENPORT ACKER
PROJECT MANAGER
As Cultural Relations Manager and Curator at FORM since 2005, Carly has developed FORM’s Indigenous Development Program which focuses primarily on the Pilbara, Kimberley and Mid West regions of Western Australia. Carly has produced an array of exhibitions and educational public programs that celebrate intercultural exchange between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists and their enterprises. Highlights include the Cultural Strands/Woven Visions and Clever with our hands programs, as well as the book Cultural Strands.
Carly is Project Manager of the Canning Stock Route Project and enjoys ‘the magic of collaboration’ that brings together innovative people and communities from diverse environments and creative industries of Western Australia.
Carly has a degree in Art History and Curatorship from the Australian National University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Anthropology from the University of Melbourne. She has brokered arts and cultural initiatives for local and global audiences and has contributed to and led high profile projects and programs at the National Gallery of Australia (ACT), the Melbourne Museum (VIC) and Munupi Arts (Tiwi Islands, NT).
WALLY CARUANA
CURATOR AND MENTOR
Wally Caruana’s role in the Canning Stock Route Project is as curator and mentor; working directly with the three Emerging Aboriginal Curators on the exhibition’s development. His engagement as mentor began at Lake Stretch, at the close of the trip to country in August 2007 - and will continue via the Curator’s workshops held in Perth in 2008-2009 in readiness for the exhibition’s Australian launch, late 2009.
From 1984 to 2001 Wally was the Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra, during which time he oversaw the development of one of the most important collections of modern Indigenous Australian art in a public museum. At the NGA, Wally curated and co-curated several major exhibitions including: The Aboriginal Memorial, also shown at the Sydney Biennale in 1988; Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition in 1989; The Art of George Milpurrurru in 1993; Roads Cross: The Paintings of Rover Thomas in 1994; The Painters of the Wagilag Sisters Story 1937-1997 in 1997; and World of Dreamings at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, and the NGA (shown under the title Aboriginal Art in Modern Worlds) in 2000.
In 2004 Wally curated Likan’mirri–Connections: The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Collection of Art, at the Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University in Canberra. Wally is the author and editor of several publications and exhibition catalogues on Indigenous Australian art including Windows on the Dreaming: Aboriginal Paintings in the Australian National Gallery in 1989, several major exhibition catalogues (see above), and Aboriginal Art – part of the World of Art Series published by Thames and Hudson, London and New York. 1993, updated 2003).
Currently, Wally is also a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Art History, Australian National University, Canberra; the Senior Consultant in Aboriginal Art to Sotheby’s Australia; the Director of Caruana Fine Art, Canberra, and a Director of Caruana & Reid Fine Art, Sydney.
MONIQUE LA FONTAINE
CONTENT MANAGER AND PRODUCTION EDITOR
Monique is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer and cultural worker. She was contributing editor of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre’s 2007 Western Australian Premier Award-nominated publication, New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self- determination in the Kimberley. She has worked with Aboriginal artists, traditional leaders and youth at risk in the Kimberley on numerous arts and community projects since 1997. She is a board member of the JB Seed Arts Grant Fund assessing Indigenous Arts and Social Activism applications. Monique is currently working towards an exhibition of her own recent work.
Monique’s role is to gather, manage and develop Project content in readiness for the exhibition and its associated programs. She is a lead member of the editorial team working to produce the book. In addition, Monique shares with Carly the role of guiding the Project’s professional development programs and artist’s workshops.
NICOLE MA (NICOLE MA PRODUCTIONS)
FILMMAKER AND MENTOR
Nicole Ma is an award-winning filmmaker based in Melbourne, Australia. She co-founded Bluehorse Films in New York in 1990 producing Combination Platter winner of the Waldo Salt screenwriting award at the Sundance Film Festival and selected to screen at Cannes in 1991. On her return to Australia Ma was executive producer of multimedia for the inaugural exhibitions at the National Museum of Australia.
The NMA was awarded the 2005 and 2006 Best Major Tourist Attraction at the Australian Tourism awards. Two recent documentaries - Kurtal won Best Indigenous Resource and Best Short Form Documentary at the 2002 ATOM awards and Best Documentary Film at the International Festival of Cinema, Italy while Dances of Ecstasy won Best Documentary at the 2004 Hollywood Spiritual Film Festival.
TOM LAWFORD
CULTURAL ADVISOR AND TRANSLATOR
I come from Wangkatjungka Community but I now live in Fitzroy Crossing. My traditional language is Wangkajunga.
My first job was as a teacher’s aide out at Wangkatjungka School for about four/five years. After this I left Wangkatjungka and started working for the Kimberley Land Council [KLC] as a Land and Mining Field Officer. My time at KLC was spent doing work on the Ngurrara claim, which is my traditional country area. This meant doing field trips out into the Great Sandy Desert with people travelling to different water holes within this claim area, which we still do today.
I left KLC after four years and went to work for Marra Worra Worra [Resource Agency] in Fitzroy as a field officer looking after communities on various CDEP projects. After there I worked for Nindilingarri Cultural Health Services doing desk top publishing, media and music production.
I now work for the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre [KALACC]. I was brought up in a strong cultural environment and I like working at KALACC especially with old and young people on traditional dancing and cultural projects with youth at risk. We sometimes do bush trips with the Yiriman project as well. I am a board member for the Kimberley Language Resource Centre which is based out at Halls Creek and I worked on the book New Legend as a cultural advisor and language worker.
My role with FORM at the moment involves transcribing and translating stories about Canning Stock Route country from traditional languages into English and providing advice on cultural issues.
TIM ACKER
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Tim has been working with remote area art centres since 1999, particularly in the desert regions. His focus has been on establishing and growing stable and participatory community-managed art enterprises. Acknowledging collaboration as the strongest method of working in cross cultural zones, Tim perceives the Canning Stock Route Project as combining all the best elements of remote area work: country, people, stories and history.
Tim has previously worked as an art centre manager at Warlayirti Artists, Balgo, as Art Centre Industry Development Officer, with Desart in Alice Springs and most recently as a Senior Project Officer with Aboriginal Economic Development in Perth, with carriage of the Creative Industry sector.
In 2007 Tim was awarded the ‘Outstanding Commitment by an Individual’ at the Community Services Industry Awards.
JOHN CARTY
ANTRHOPOLOGIST
John Carty is an anthropologist who has worked in the Kimberley and Western Desert regions since 2002. John’s key role on the Project is historical research and recording of oral histories, and he is also an important conduit in terms of content development relating to the book, liaising with FORM’s editorial team and with the contributors. John is currently based at the Research Schoolof Humanities, Australian National University.
His PhD research focuses on the impact of the Aboriginal Art industry on daily life in the Balgo community. It explores the familial, economic and stylistic grounds of contemporary acrylic painting practices as an Indigenous response to particular historical conditions and processes. John has also worked in Indigenous health research. He has developed collaborative research programs promoting local Indigenous knowledge. John is also a lead anthropological participant in the Australian National University’s Canning Stock Route rock art and cultural tourism initiative.