Still Here, Now exhibition closes

The Still Here, Now exhibition has wrapped up at Geelong’s Platform Arts with a night of music and performance.

The First Nations-curated exhibition, which opened on January 18, was led by Gunditjmara Keerray Wooroong women and Koorroyarr Arts founders, Tarryn Love and Kelsey Love, alongside Naarm-based artist and researcher Jahkarli Romanis and Amber Smith of Platform Arts.

Closing night, held on Friday last week, presented a range of live First Nations activities, including a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, didgeridoo from Norm Stanley, spoken word performances, and food provided by Indigenous-owned business Cooee Catering.

Still Here, Now captured what it means to be “still here, now” from a First Nations ancestral perspective. The range of cultural and creative practices included in the show celebrated diversity through demonstrating the narrative sovereignties present in each of the works.

These sovereignties are informed and made known to the artists through their relationships with their Ancestors.

Including works from artists based on Wadawurrung Country, Lowell Hunter, Marlene Gilson, Kait James, Tarni Jarvis, Kelsey Love, Tarryn Love, Jahkarli Romanis, Tammy Gilson and Norm Stanley, the art acknowledges how First Nations ancestors continue to survive, despite determined existence, and the challenges presented in the face of colonialism as drawn from notions presented in “Dear Ancestor” by Professor Chelsea Watego.