Saturday 28 July – Sunday 16 September, 2018 | Links Gallery

• Swimming in the River, illustration from Murray Cod Story by Uncle Jimmy Ingram, illustrated by Bernard Sullivan, 2018

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this exhibition contains images and voices of people who have passed.

Ngiyanggarang: Beginning a conversation in the morning to awaken others, an innovative exhibition that celebrates stories and perspectives from Wiradjuri Elders.
The work is the outcome of a creative practice research collaboration between two prominent Wiradjuri families, the Grants and the Ingrams and illustrator and researcher Dr Bernard Sullivan in conjunction with Charles Sturt University and Burambabili Gulbali.

Ngiyanggarang features unique perspectives of individual experience from Wiradjuri Elders, Uncle Jimmy Ingram, Aunty Flo Grant, Dr. Uncle Stan Grant Sr. AM, and Gamilaroi Elder Aunty Betty Grant (nee Cameron). Working from the idea that when we know our stories we know who we are, these Elders present an understanding of life that permeates the land we now know as the Riverina. The stories help us all, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, comprehend the dynamic, transformed but unbroken continuity of the life of the Wiradjuri people who have lived here for millennia.

These newly documented stories take many forms, with the exhibition narrating these stories through film, illustration, animation and text. The works explore traditional stories about life before European settlement, the crisis that occurred post settlement, and stories of resilience and the persistence of cultural values through the twentieth century to the present. Many of the stories reflect valuable life lessons in Indigenous culture, such as, choosing the right way to live, connection to family and country, the example of the Elders, and following your dreams.

Launch: Saturday 11 August at 1pm

RSVP appreciated gallery@wagga.nsw.gov.au