To know, to hear, to understand: A short history of Australian Art with Ngarrngga

Authors and presenter*

• Abbey MacDonald, School of Education, CALE*

• Melitta Hogarth, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne

Abstract

Art and education play a pivotal role in shaping individuals, society and culture. When brought together, art and education create powerful contexts for engagement with culture, critical interrogation, creative transformation and change. What and whose knowledge is showcased in art and education settings must be carefully considered (MacDonald & Beasy, 2024). This is a key imperative for anyone involved with supporting teachers to do this work with genuine care, curiosity and confidence.

In this Showcase presentation, we will introduce Ngarrngga (2024); a multifaceted, nation-building program of works seeking to showcase Indigenous Knowledge in education resources and teacher education. We will speak to the key roles that recognition of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), reparative justice and relationality play in the creation of Ngarrngga’s education resources, and the aspirations for their use in classrooms. Given the Tasmanian context for this presentation, we will look at examples of Palawa artists and Indigenous Knowledge featured in the education resources of the forthcoming landmark exhibition 65,000 Years: A short history of Australian Art, which will reopen the Ian Potter Museum of Art in May 2025.  

References

MacDonald, A., & Beasy, K. (2024). A water [shed] moment for articulating a professional practice of education resource creation. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 40(2), 305-321. https://doi.org.10.1017/aee.2024.22

Ngarrngga (2024). Welcome to Ngarrngga. https://www.ngarrngga.org/