Led by Carly Davenport, the CSR Project team is a pool of talented multi-disciplinary professionals with extensive experience working in Indigenous and cultural development industries. The CSR Project team is a collaborative one, with the Emerging Aboriginal Curators and Emerging Multimedia Practitioners playing a significant role in the development of the major exhibition and its associated cultural, artistic and historic material, with mentoring from some of Australia's leading experts in the field.
MURUNGKURR 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...and i always think about passing the knowledge to the next generation of family".
Terry was one of the youngest artists to have participated in painting the Ngurrara Canvas and he now works as the Cultural Heritage Officer for the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC).
LOUISE MENGIL
EMERGING CURATOR
Louise Mengil is a 25 year old Mirruwong woman from Kununurra. She is currently living in Perth and studying Accounting & Economics at Curtin University. Central to her life is her daughters, the old people and her culture. “Without them I am nothing, they make the person within me”.
Louise is passionate about learning, especially so when it involves her cultural background and her people’s history. She says that “Canning Stock Route history is a topic I had never heard about. It is a privilege to be part of it; it has given me the opportunity to see through a different window of Aboriginal Culture and to open the window to others”.
HAYLEY ATKINS
EMERGING CURATOR
Hayley Atkins calls Jigalong Community her home. She states that her time working at Martumili Art Centre in Newman has given her the opportunity to recover her family history through painting. Hayley states she wants people to know about the Canning Stock Route, so they know where their grandfathers and grandmothers come from, as it “Keeps our history and Martu culture strong”.
She observes that “When you paint a story of your life, family, and culture, you become part of it”.
CLINT DIXON
EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER
Clint Dixon is a Bardi, Jabbir Jabbir, Yawuru man from Broome who has completed a Certificate III in Screen via his work at Goolarri Media Enterprises, where he is now training to become a Director. He is very proud of having showcased his short film Mungarri at the Beijing Olympics. He states he loves his job, as he has new experiences and works with a lot of different people every day. Clint states that “I would like to pass my knowledge to younger Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who would like to be part of the media world”.
MORIKA BILJABU
PHOTOGRAPHER AND EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER
The youngest member of the team Morika Biljabu lives in the community of Punmu, in the heart of Martu country. Morika’s love of community life is of central concern in her choice of film and photographic material.
During the CSR 2007 trip to country, Morika shot and produced a short film, which celebrates the life of her grandmother, Jakayu. Her films and a selection of her photographic works will be showcased at the NMA exhibition launch in 2010. Morika’s work has been nominated by John Elliot to enter the 2009 Prix Pictet: the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability.
KENNETH MARTIN (KJ)
EMERGING MULTIMEDIA PRACTITIONER AND FILMMAKER
Kenneth (KJ) lives in Halls Creek and works as an Audio Visual Project Officer at the Kimberley Language Resource Centre. KJ discovered his passion for getting behind the camera accidentally, while filming his first daughter! KJ is “keen to know about all the old people’s life stories… [to tell] the two versions of history”.
In 2007, KJ travelled the Stock Route with the team and artists for three weeks. During this trip KJ developed an understanding of why painting is so important for Aboriginal people. He produced the film Not Just Painting on this trip, which will be showcased at the exhibition launch, and says that he hopes to make more films about Halls Creek.
CARLY DAVENPORT
PROJECT MANAGER AND CURATOR
As Curator and Manager of the Cultural Development Program at FORM since 2005, Carly has produced an array of exhibitions and educational public programs that celebrate intercultural exchange between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.. Carly enjoys ‘the magic of collaboration’ that brings together innovative ideas, people, communities and networks from diverse environments and creative industries of Western Australia. In 2006 she co-founded the CSR Project, designing its creative platform and managing the delivery of its multi-disciplinary program and is team leader.
Carly has a degree in Art History and Curatorship from the Australian National University, Canberra 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).
MONIQUE LA FONTAINE
CONTENT MANAGER, CURATOR AND PRODUCTION EDITOR
Monique is responsible for managing and developing CSR Project content for the exhibition and its associated programs. She is a lead member of the book’s editorial team and the exhibition's curatorial team and shares with Carly the role of guiding the Project’s professional development programs and artists’ workshops.
Monique has worked in the Kimberley on Aboriginal arts and community projects since 1997 and was contributing editor of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre’s 2007 WA Premier Award-nominated publication, New Legend: A Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self- Determination in the Kimberley. She is a multi-disciplinary artist, and is currently working towards an exhibition of recent work.
NICOLE MA (NICOLE MA PRODUCTIONS)
MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER & MENTOR
Based in Melbourne, Nicole Ma coordinates the Project’s multimedia output, the exhibition’s film productions, and mentors the CSR Project’s three Aboriginal multimedia practitioners.
Co-founding Bluehorse Films in New York, in 1990, the company won a prestigious screenwriting award at the Sundance Film Festival. Nicole returned to Australia and was appointed executive producer of multimedia, for the inaugural exhibitions, at the National Museum of Australia. Her recent documentaries Kurtal and Dances of Ecstasy have also won several awards. Nicole’s astute eye and sensibility for process enriches all aspects of her work: she says “remote community professionals bring a unique worldview to us … I think this worldview is ultimately what the soul of the Project is about”.
TOM LAWFORD
TRANSLATOR, CULTURAL AND CURATORIAL ADVISOR
Tom is a Wangkajungka man living in Fitzroy Crossing. Wangkajunga is also his traditional language. He brings a wide range of experience and an intimate geographical and cultural knowledge to his role on this Project: “Listening to the old peoples’ story from the past. Good ones, sad ones…it’s up to us to tell them to our future generations”.
Tom works at the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre [KALACC] in Fitzroy Crossing, on traditional dancing and cultural projects. He is a board member for the Kimberley Language Resource Centre, which is based out at Halls Creek, and worked on the book New Legend as a cultural advisor and language worker.
TIM ACKER
EXECUTIVE PROJECT SUPPORT
Working with remote communities since 1999 to establish and grow stable and participatory community-managed art enterprises, Tim believes that collaboration in cross-cultural zones is paramount. He sees this Project as combining all the best elements of remote area work: country, people, stories and history. Tim co-founded the CSR Project in 2006.
Tim has previously worked as an art centre manager at Warlayirti Artists, Balgo, as Industry Development Officer with Desart in Alice Springs and as a Senior Project Officer with Aboriginal Economic Development in Perth, with carriage of the Arts Commercialisation Strategy. In 2007, Tim was awarded the ‘Outstanding Commitment by an Individual’ at the Community Services Industry Awards.
JOHN CARTY
ANTRHOPOLOGIST AND CURATOR
John Carty is an anthropologist who has worked extensively throughout the Western Desert and Kimberley regions. John is the Project’s key anthropologist.. He has recorded numerous oral histories with Canning Stock Route artists and custodians. John is also the curatorial advisor to the exhibition team and co-editor of Canning Stock Route Project’s book in production.
His research outside the CSR Project focuses broadly on contemporary Indigenous art, with a focus on Western Desert painting and the Balgo artists in particular. John is currently based at the Research School of Humanities, Australian National University, Canberra.