Reclaiming Country: The Spinifex Arts Project
Join us for an intimate floor talk with Peter Twigg, former Arts Project Coordinator of the Spinifex Arts Project. Hear how the Spinifex Arts Project created a remarkable platform for Spinifex Elders to assert ownership and ensure continuity of stories deeply embedded in traditional lands.
For the people of the Great Victoria Desert, being an artist is a cultural and a political process. Inextricably tethered to the Jukurrpa (Dreamtime stories), paintings connect artists to each other, to kin and to Country. The Spinifex Arts Project began in 1997 and rapidly became part of the documentation process supporting the Native Title claim. Since then, Spinifex artists have become widely respected in the contemporary Aboriginal art scene and are well known and widely recognised on the international stage.
Peter will share the early history of the Spinifex Arts Project, his experience as community manager in Coonana, and the journey from Native Title claim to the project's current international profile. He will provide insights into how this artist led project grew to become a unique and potent cultural expression for Pila Nguru.
Dr Peter Twigg was the co-founder of the Spinifex Arts Project. He oversaw the establishment and first decade of the Ilkurlka Roadhouse and was the inaugural Spinifex Lands Director. Peter worked for 25 years in the broader Western Desert region filling a range of arts, heritage, mapping, Native Title and land management roles. In 2018 Peter returned to the Great Southern to take up a position within South Coast NRM's Culture and Heritage program. Peter is currently the Ngowanjerindj Program Manager for the Gnowangerup Aboriginal Corporation.
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Episode transcript
A transcript for this podcast will be made available soon.
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