Ngiyanggarang: Beginning a conversation in the morning to awaken others is the outcome of a creative practice research collaboration between Wiradjuri families, the Grants and the Ingrams and Bernard Sullivan in conjunction with Charles Sturt University and Burambabili Gulbali.

Researcher artist Dr Sullivan said it was an honour to be able to illustrate the stories. 

“This project is about recording the Wiradjuri perspective of history and identity,” he said. 

“As someone who is not Aboriginal, to be working with Aboriginal people is a great honour and an amazing experience.

“When you sit down and they’re telling you the story and you are illustrating it, you work together.” 

The exhibition narrates through film, illustration, animation and text. One story is about Aunty Flo’s travels around the world, Dr Sullivan said. 

“It’s about her vision as a young girl who was poor and the support of her mother and father to then set her heart on travelling around the world,” he said. 

Being a collaborative effort, Mr Sullivan said his ego as an artist had to take a back seat. 

“My motivation was to support the Elders,” he said.

“It’s about this culture-centred way of doing things, which is putting the Elders first.

“A drawing might not be right at first, so you take on their instructions and make some changes.” 

The works explore traditional stories about life before European settlement, the crisis that occurred post settlement, and stories of resilience and the persistence of cultural values through the twentieth century to the present.

Aunty Cheryl Penrith was involved in the collaborative effort to get the exhibition together. 

“Bernard and I have had conversation for a number of years about how we can work together and tell the stories,” she said.

“We formed the association Burambabili Gulbali and we are like-minded people that believe telling the story of culture and the stories of our Elders are really important.” 

Aunty Cheryl stressed how personal all the stories are and how pleased she was to see the exhibition in place. 

“It’s all around the Wiradjuri values of respect and making sure that if you are telling someone’s story, you’re not putting your slant on it,” she said. 

“A lot of the stories have meaning and are leaving legacies for our community and their families.

“Culture is really personal, so it’s really their story and we have all got a story to tell.” 

Aunty Cheryl said there is a long tradition of story-telling.

“This is going to reach a whole new audience,” she said.

“I would really encourage people to come and have a look, we have a wonderful city that we live in and this rich history is all of ours.

The exhibition will be on display in the Links Gallery at Wagga Art Gallery through to September 16.

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