A First Nations–led collective grounded in reciprocity,
self-determination, and cultural continuity, led by
Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong woman Tarryn Love.
Now entering its next iteration as YOOKAPA: Grounded, the collective is undertaking a period of incubation grounded in reflection, consultation, and renewal. This will strengthen culturally safe pathways for First Nations artists living in and connected to Greater Geelong to participate in Blak arts projects that refuse extractive outcomes.
“YOOKAPA is the Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong word for the notion of giving and receiving. I understand YOOKAPA as action, as method of practice and as purpose in forming relationships through interconnectedness, collaboration, exchange and reciprocity.
“YOOKAPA sits within a broader body of my creative and cultural practice and research. Constantly alive and becoming, YOOKAPA exists in relationship, accountable to Country and community. It is one expression of that work, a living site of inquiry with and through community. YOOKAPA at Platform Arts has looked like holding and protecting space to celebrate and support mob already doing creative work. A place to come, make, share and be together.
“In practice it is not fixed or prescribed. It looks like people gathered around a table, sharing a meal, yarning and making together. Knowledge moving through conversation and through hands. The space to move at a community's pace, and being led by what emerges.
“Right now is a period of going to ground, an incubation period of deep listening, reflection and reconnection with community, Country and the core of what this work is and what it needs to thrive. A generative stillness and a considered return.
“YOOKAPA is hosted at Platform Arts not as a program but as a living practice, a site where cultural work, community and research come together: something that gets tested, lived and witnessed in real time. A way of being with each other that is slow, reciprocal and grounded in trust.”
“YOOKAPA is the Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong word for the notion of giving and receiving. I understand YOOKAPA as action, as method of practice and as purpose in forming relationships through interconnectedness, collaboration, exchange and reciprocity.
“YOOKAPA sits within a broader body of my creative and cultural practice and research. Constantly alive and becoming, YOOKAPA exists in relationship, accountable to Country and community. It is one expression of that work, a living site of inquiry with and through community. YOOKAPA at Platform Arts has looked like holding and protecting space to celebrate and support mob already doing creative work. A place to come, make, share and be together.
“In practice it is not fixed or prescribed. It looks like people gathered around a table, sharing a meal, yarning and making together. Knowledge moving through conversation and through hands. The space to move at a community's pace, and being led by what emerges.
“Right now is a period of going to ground, an incubation period of deep listening, reflection and reconnection with community, Country and the core of what this work is and what it needs to thrive. A generative stillness and a considered return.
“YOOKAPA is hosted at Platform Arts not as a program but as a living practice, a site where cultural work, community and research come together: something that gets tested, lived and witnessed in real time. A way of being with each other that is slow, reciprocal and grounded in trust.”
Words by Tarryn Love, YOOKAPA curator
Tarryn Love is a proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong woman, born and raised on Wadawurrung Country. She is a koorroyarr, teenyeen ngapang, tyeentyeeyt ngapangyarr and wanoong ngeerrang: granddaughter, youngest daughter, youngest sister and Aunty.
As artist and curator, Tarryn creates under the collective of Koorroyarr (granddaughter), honouring her positionality as a Gunditjmara woman. Tarryn’s work represents the distinctiveness of Gunditjmara ways of Knowing, Being and Doing that is not one way but constantly happening and changing. She aims to explore identity in the here and now while centring language and carrying on the work of remembering, reclamation, regeneration, and revitalisation.
As artist and curator, Tarryn creates under the collective of Koorroyarr (granddaughter), honouring her positionality as a Gunditjmara woman. Tarryn’s work represents the distinctiveness of Gunditjmara ways of Knowing, Being and Doing that is not one way but constantly happening and changing. She aims to explore identity in the here and now while centring language and carrying on the work of remembering, reclamation, regeneration, and revitalisation.
“As a proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong woman and visitor on Wadawurrung Country, I would like to thank the Traditional Owners and First Nations community of this place for Welcoming and supporting the development of YOOKAPA. I would like to pay my deepest respects and acknowledge the Elders and Ancestors, living and past, that paved the way for spaces like this to exist. I want to thank all the mob involved and recognise their generosity in which they have shared their individual stories and experiences as Blackfullas in shaping what this program might look like now and beyond. I want to thank Platform Arts for listening, learning and centering Blak Voices.”—Tarryn Love
Images (1) YOOKAPA weaving session in the Rehearsal Space, photo Leiko Lopez. (2) Tarryn Love, photo Hannah Senftleben.
Platform Arts
On Wadawurrung Country
60 Little Malop St
Djilang/Geelong VIC 3220
P: (03) 5224 2815
M: 0467 094 597
E: hello@platformarts.org.au
Office hours: Tuesday to Friday / 9.30AM—4.30PM
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday / 10.00AM—4.00PM
Platform Arts’ accessibility includes a ramp to our Gheringhap St entrance, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, baby-change facilities, and elevator. Accessible carparks are located on the Little Malop St side of our building. If you have specific accessibility needs, please contact us.
Platform Arts, based on Wadawurrung Country in Djilang/Geelong, focuses on the development of artistic practice and ideas, leading to the presentation of these ideas as contemporary arts experiences. We curate a multi-artform program of exhibitions, performances, publications and events that respond to themes and provocations we believe are urgent for our times. Learn more
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