The Neglected totem pole and hope at the 2023 Indigenous Heritage Exhibition

NO photography allowed so blog graphic generated by AI

The Moving Circle of Artists

 The young guard stood in the doorway of the hut and said 'the gate open'. His hands in his pocket and leaning on the post. I asked him if the gun too heavy (I see it on the desk in the hut) and he laughs. I don't ask him if he has seen the exhibition.

Castellani House grounds are cooler than the minibus which was stuck in traffic and which had two women with their children trying to sit away from the sun. Nice benches, but benabs which don't have seats in them. Not sure if the benabs without seats and the benches in the sun are some kind of art installation too.

The booklet on the desk inside presents the Moving Circle of Artists. A mix of all genders and ages, experiences, and of people who produce art in different forms. 

There is a nice mix of painted wood, sculpture, paintings on the wall. The paintings of hinterland landscapes, animals, and some human figures.

There is an installation of tie dyed fabric. I wish there was some breeze to move the fabric gently, give it life. The windows though are closed, no doubt to protect the installation.

Neglect and decay

There is another installation. I thought it was a waterfall. Fabric flowing with red markings, white space and blue markings on the floor. 

I go closer, looking for the name tag. I see the photos on the wall, beautifully framed. The black and white photos of the 50 ft totem pole lying on its side in the Umana Yana ground.

There is an explanation of the installation - the Chronology of Neglect. I am shocked - this is a powerful political piece. The neglected work, paid for by the Government, the neglect now a monument in its way next to the Umana Yana., with no clear explanation why it was not mounted.

Reminder that the Government could keep the Indigenous people down while pretending to honour them by maintaining the Umana Yana?

The installation has been created by a group of artists. There is an explanation of the different parts. I read it twice - the connection to the environment, the past and present, and the future in which the artists hope that Indigenous people will be appreciated .

The woman and the man on the road and hope

Leaving and writing comments in the book. Look up again and see the painting Tiger Pond by Ransford Simon, point it out to the Gallery Attendant. She  laughs and says it is her favourite too, she doesn't know why. We talk about the bicycle, kind of not straight, the man wheeling it, the woman next to him but away from him, backs to us as they walk on this winding road to distant mountains.

Something about the winding, the slowness. Imagining the man riding up to the woman and coming down and walking with her, but there is space where it looks like she could have walked alone. 

They don't look in a hurry. Something calming about them. They exist in that space with the mountains, the trees. 

And on the flat coastland with heavy traffic and heat, the mountains look cool and nice.. some kind of goal, might not reach there, but always present.

So some hope in way.

Writing this now, as I messed up in a human interaction after the exhibition, and imagining that winding road towards the mountain still.

Leaving the cool grounds,  looking at the benches without people contrasting with the plenty traffic on the road outside.

The  guard is sitting in the hut. The gun is on the desk, not too close to him.

The Moving Circle of Artists' work is presented in the 2023 Indigenous Heritage Exhibition at Castellani House until 30 September, 2023