This year’s NAIDOC week organisers are urging us to keep the fire burning, inviting all Australians to “stand in solidarity, amplifying the voices that have long been silenced.” There’s plenty of ways to do just that.
Step into Carriageworks performing arts space in Sydney’s Redfern and you’ll find yourself in a yarning circle created by beautiful kids’ self-portraits that surround a huge glowing ‘campfire’. Crawl inside the belly of the fire (a storeys-high tent), curl up on a cushion and immerse yourself in the soundscape of birdsong and poetry.
It’s all part of NAIDOC week, a celebration of the world’s oldest, continuous living culture and chance to recognise the ongoing achievements of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The week-long celebrations run from July 7-14 and this year’s NAIDOC week theme is ‘Keep the fire burning! Blak, loud and proud’, a theme that recognises the history and encourages ongoing pride and unyielding resilience, even in the face of adversity.
The evocative self-portraits, poems, hand dyed raffia figures and artworks at Carriageworks are the handiwork of primary and high school students from Alexandria Park Community School (Alexandria), Chifley College in Bidwill, Chifley College, Dunheved and Blacktown’s Evans High.
The schools are all taking part in Solid Ground, an ongoing program that provides cultural education training, and employment pathways for young Indigenous students while fostering a sense of pride, creativity and community through weekly workshops with an Indigenous artist in residence.
As part of the NAIDOC week celebrations, the Solid Ground artists collaborated on the multi-artform exhibition, a free public installation that responds to the NAIDOC theme.
Chifley College artist Nathan Leslie has spent the past two semesters teaching the students to hand dye and weave raffia figures. He reminded the group of students at the launch to ‘stay blak, stay deadly, and be unapologetic about it.’
“These young people are the next generation, the next lot of oldies in our communities who are going to be raising our children. The future belongs in the hands of our young, so we need to be making sure we’re not only teaching them cultural things but giving them social skills, emotional skills, connecting with them, relating with them,” says Nathan. “And that’s what this is about: giving young people the tools to tell stories in a different way. Because their stories are important just like everyone’s stories from communities we come from.”
First established as a week-long commemoration in 1938, NAIDOC week today is celebrated through panel discussions, art exhibitions, bespoke Indigenous art and NAIDOC-inspired designs, free music concerts, dance workshops and storytelling.
“Blak, Loud and Proud encapsulates the unapologetic celebration of Indigenous identity, empowering us to stand tall in our heritage and assert our place in the modern world,” say NAIDOC week organisers. “It invites all Australians to listen, learn and engage in meaningful dialogue, fostering a society where the wisdom and contributions of Indigenous peoples are fully valued and respected.”
On July 6 the national NAIDOC Week awards ceremony was held in Tarndanya (Adelaide) celebrating excellence and inspiration through the awarding of the lifetime achievement award (won by Aunty Dulcie Flower) and awards for female Elder, creative talent and innovation.
Speaking at the launch of the Carriageworks NAIDOC week art exhibition, hip-hop and visual artist Shannon Smith (aka ‘Monks’) talked to the crowd about the self-portraits he had worked on with the students at Alexandria Park. Run with the support of The Tony Foundation, this is the second year the Solid Ground program has worked with Monks.
“I would love to talk about the work, the meaning of the work, the depth of significance,” Monks says. “But what I want to talk about is how awesome it was watching these young fellas making these self-portraits, watching them come together in their own way and seeing the looks on their faces as they walked into Carriageworks, seeing them just light up with these big smiles, and run to their pieces. That is so cool.”
Solid Ground’s free NAIDOC exhibition runs until July 14.
