Detail of image and artwork credit: Yarrangany, Jessi Rebel
Curated by Jessi Rebel
YARRANGANY
FRI 08 MAY—SAT 11 JUL
MULTIPLE EVENTS
OPENING EVENT:
FRI 8 MAY | 5:00PM—7:30PM
Please arrive between 5.00PM—5.30PM for the official proceedings:
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Welcome and Smoking Ceremony from 5.30PM
This event is free but registration is required.
Yarrangany is a collective exhibition honouring the deep, living foundations that shape First Nations identities across the world. The word “yarrangany,” translating to “roots” in Wiradjuri language, speaks to ancestry, Country, language, memory, and the unseen systems that hold us, beneath the surface, across generations and beyond borders.
Bringing together First Nations artists from diverse Countries, cultures, and nations, this exhibition explores identity as something relational and evolving. Through contemporary and traditional practices, the works engage with place and displacement, kinship and community, cultural survival and renewal, growth and becoming.
Yarrangany invites reflection on how we belong, to land, to story, to each other, and how those connections continue to transform in a changing world. Yarrangany seeks to create a shared space of visibility, dialogue, and connection, where roots intertwine, and new growth emerges.
Yarrangany – roots
Speaks to what lies beneath.
To ancestry carried in the body,
to land remembered and reclaimed,
to language, story, and the quiet threads that bind us.
Across Countries, cultures, and First Nations, this exhibition gathers artists whose practices grow from connection and becoming. It is an invitation, to return, to root, to reach toward one another. First Nations artists from all places are welcomed into this shared ground.
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- Idris McChesney
- Kiri Tawhai
- Kelsey Love
- Bianca Blackburn
- Karlia Cook
- Rach Farag
- Britt Silvester
- Theadra Frangos
+ More to be announced
Event programming to be announced
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Yarrangany is accompanied by a rich program of workshops and events, each facilitated by artists in the exhibition. These sessions extend the exhibition's themes of connection, Country, and cultural knowledge into embodied, hands-on experiences.
Womak (Breathe) is a gentle guided meditation led by multimedia artist and wellbeing practitioner Kiri Tawhai, who is a proud Noongar, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Tūwharetoa woman raised on Yaburara Country. Running on selected dates in May, the Womak sessions weave breath, body movement, and storytelling to invite connection with self and Country through the sharing of Songlines. Attendance is free, with capacity limited to 15 participants.
Blak Out Poetry, facilitated by Whadjuk Noongar artist Idris McChesney, is a weekly creative workshop running every Saturday from 9 May to 11 July, building creativity and focus through found poetry. Free attendance, and open to ages 12 and up, with sessions capped at 15 people.
Movement Workshop with Karlia is a contemporary dance class guided by dancer and choreographer Karlia Cook, of Mā’ohi- Norf’k, Māori (Ngāpuhi) and Pākeha descent. Grounded in intuitive movement and improvisation, the workshop is open to all abilities, ages, and bodies. Saturday 16 May, free entry.
Indigenous Grasses Butterfly Dirt Ball Making, facilitated by Yorta Yorta artist Britt Silvester, is a hands-on workshop creating butterfly seed bombs using Indigenous grass seeds to support local pollinators and ecosystems. Saturday 23 May, $40 per person.
Indigenous Grass Terrarium Making, also led by Britt Silvester, invites participants to create a living glass terrarium using earth, moss, and Indigenous grasses—a tactile, meditative experience in connecting with and caring for Country. Saturday 13 June, $160 per person.
