Dreamtime Collaboration of Resilience

In 2017 I met Colleen Williams when we were both students at Eora TAFE. We were part of a class taught by Chico Monks, in Aboriginal Cultural Arts . Now Colleen initiates an idea for an installation “…in honour of 12 months of Chico Passing”. She suggests we collaborate on an installation, with other students from that 2017 class. I suggest that we invite scientists to collaborate, who were involved in creating the installation for the 2017 conference for the AFSS (Australia Freshwater Science Society) where Chico officiated in the opening ceremony:

L-R: William Gladstone, Chico Monks, Simon Mitrovic, Claire Sives, at the launch of the 2017 conference for the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society hosted by University of Technology Sydney

Colleen and I like the idea of creating an installation in the Chico Monks Gallery at Eora, so I contact Chico’s brother Gwanji about that. Because of the uncertainty of being able to stage a physical show, due to increasing numbers of Covid infections, I look into possibilities for a virtual exhibition space. I yarn with Cat Kutay, IT Engineer at Charles Darwin University in Darwin, who creates online environments for learning Indigenous languages. Cat comes up with an idea for an online exhibition where each collaborator creates their own space to show their work, to show the countries where their stories come from, and connections between collaborators. I also ask scientist Claire Sives to think about possible computer interfaces that might work to share our stories.