In Visible Ink - Episode 5: From dark to light, a centre for truth-telling (2021)

MFTWA

In Visible Ink is a Museum of Freedom and Tolerance endeavour that makes visible the invisible. Through sharing and amplifying stories, histories, art, conversations and projects that inspire people to see differently, it aims to make changes towards a more just world.

The Carrolup artworks were produced by Aboriginal children stolen from their families and detained at the Western Australian Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s. The power of their artworks to illuminate a dark history and help us understand the impact of intergenerational trauma is enormous.

We convened a conversation about how Curtin University is catalysing the artworks into a Centre that will become a focal point for understanding the history and consequences of dispossession.

Joining us for this important session are our excellent speakers (Bios below):

• Michelle Broun (Chair)
• Chris Malcolm
• Tony Hansen

Speaker bios:

Michelle Broun is a proud Yindjibarndi woman living and working on Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodja. She grew up between the Pilbara and the Southwest-studying and working in Perth, Roebourne, Broome and Margaret River. Michelle has worked at many levels and across many platforms to produce, promote and present Aboriginal arts and culture. She is a curator, cultural planner and creative producer-engaging with community and collaborating with artists to create thought -provoking and moving experiences for audiences, to build bridges between cultures and find common ground on which to move forward. She was the lead curator of the Ngalang Koort Boodja Wirn exhibition at the Museum of Western Australia which opened in 2020. She is currently the Curator of Australian First Nations Art at John Curtin Gallery, focusing on the research, presentation and community engagement related to the collection of artworks produced by the child inmates of the Carrolup Native Settlement.

Tony Hansen is an Aboriginal man with connections to the South-West Boojarah region, Wilman tribe, which is located in Wagyl Kaip and Southern Noongar region. After being forcibly removed from his family Tony was placed at the Marribank Mission, formally known as Carrolup Native Settlement, for 15 years. Many years later, Tony was able to reconnect with his family, and he now values the opportunity to be a voice of Stolen Generation survivors. Tony is now Chair of the Carrolup Elders Reference Group.

Chris Malcolm is the Director of John Curtin Gallery. He has worked with some of the most influential contemporary artists from around the world, curating and designing exhibitions over the last 25 years. Moving from a career as a practising artist represented in the collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the City of Fremantle, he commenced working with Curtin University’s Art Collection in 1989. He was involved in the development of the John Curtin Gallery which opened at Curtin University in 1998 as Australia’s largest University Art Museum and has been Director since 2009.

Malcolm has curated over 15 major international exhibitions for the Perth Festival and was a Founding Curator of the Biennale of Electronic Arts Perth – a major international festival project launched in 2002 showcasing innovative new media arts practise. He has received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in 2002 and 2019 and has developed many exhibitions in collaboration with leading researchers across a range of disciplines from nanotechnology to radio astronomy – including Shared Sky, which has been touring internationally since 2014. As Director, he has overseen the convergence of the John Curtin Gallery’s collection development with its exhibition programming to focus on issues of diversity, equity and social justice.