Wiimbia Mayii Kulpa Larna Bush Symposium
Mildura Palimpsest Biennale #10, 2015 | Opening Day 2 October 2015
Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi, Ngyiaampa Country
Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area / Mungo National Park / Top Hut Station
“It’s about everybody coming together from all over the country and around the world, to sit on country and share stories. It’s also about acknowledging the role that Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area plays in getting the story out about the oldest living culture in the world. I think it’s important for the bigger story to be out there too, in regards to linking and sharing peoples stories from different parts of the world and connecting world heritage areas.”
The opening of Mildura Palimpsest Biennale #10 was staged at Mungo National Park for the first time. Performance, discussion and installations were led by Mungo Elders, Traditional Owners and MPB Artists: Ricky Mitchell, Daryl Pappin, Marie Mitchell, Noel Johnson, Beryl Kennedy, Roy Kennedy, Aunty Lottie, Mary-Anne Marton, Mary Pappin, Joan Slade, Dawn Smith, Joyce Smith, Maureen Taylor, Peggy Thomas, Warren Clark, Jo Gorman, Leanne Mitchell, Bruce Pascoe, Dan Rosendahl, Mandi King, Yutaka Kobayashi, Shannon Young, all participating Biennale artists.
The Bush Symposium commenced with a Welcome to Country by Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa Elders, at the Mungo Visitors Centre. After lunch the symposium moved to the Mungo Youth Project site on Top Hut Station (part of Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area) for the presentation of a major ceremonial intercultural and collaborative art work by fourteen Unmapping the End of the World artists. This was followed by an informal discussion between artists, elders and audience around the Biennale theme: everywhere all at once…here.
A tightly packed program on the day included lunch and discussion / viewing of artists installations at Mungo National Park. These include: Yutaka Kobayashi (Japan) World’s First Baker, a durational collaborative project with local Indigenous and non-Indigenous school children, growing, harvesting, grinding and baking native millet into damper in solar ovens, made by the students. Yutaka presented a discussion in collaboration with author Bruce Pascoe; Shannon Young’s Basin Ambulations: Lake Mungo, the residue of an epic walk with a shopping trolley and a frozen block of Murray River water across Lake Mungo; and Mandi King’s, Cloud Catcher, made in collaboration with local Mildura Sunraysia Spinners and Weavers.
Special thanks to: Paakantji, Mutthi Mutthi, Ngyiaampa elders; Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area; Mungo National Park and Top Hut Station
