Art installation remembering the 1882 Garden Palace fire created as part of the 32nd Kaldor Public Art Project
The Barrangal Dyara art installation created by Johnathan Jones for the 32nd Kaldor Public Art Project covered 20,000 square metres of Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens. The artwork was on display from the 17th of September to the 3 October 2016.
The Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist made the artwork in response to a forgotten tragedy. A massive fire that destroyed a large collection of culturally significant Aboriginal objects and remains inside the Royal Botanic Gardens 19th century Garden Palace building.
Barrangal Dyara included over fifteen thousand ash white shields made from gypsum, native kangaroo grasslands, performances, workshops, and soundscapes. Oral histories and song from members of the Gadigal, Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri language groups, whose cultural property was among those destroyed in the fire, were projected throughout space.
Shields placed in the same footprint as the building destroyed in 1888 show the outline of the Garden Palace as it once stood. Ariel photos display the enormous size of the project.
The artist first found out about the Garden Palace when researching family history.
"I found out that much of this material, like a lot of other material from South-East communities, was destroyed in the Garden Palace fire of 1882. Ever since, I’ve been struck with the loss of our cultural material, what that loss means for our communities and how we can move forward with having lost so much in the fire".
Jonathan told Living Black Radio that while trying to make sense of the destruction his elders reminded him Aboriginal communities had used fire for countless generations, not as a destructive force, but a force of renewal, a way of creating strength and resilience.
"It was our Aboriginal worldview of fire that was used as the creative narrative in the project Barrangal Dyara (skin and bones). The fire was not the end of the story for our cultural material, it was the start of a new story. The site of the Garden Palace holds the memory of that story, and like the green shoots that spring up after a fire, its up to us to remember them", Mr Jones said.
Barrangal Dyara (skin and bones) was made possible with the support of Gadigal elders Uncle Chicka and Uncle Allen Madden from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and the project was guided by the Aboriginal Advisory Board made up of Uncle Chicka Madden, Dr Christen Evans, Jason Glanville, Hetti Perkins, and Professor Michael McDaneil.
The installation also included smoking ceremonies and a special performance by The Bangarra Dance Theatre responding on site.
PLAY THE AUDIO DESCRIBED TOUR FOR THE BLIND OR VISION IMPAIRED
https://soundcloud.com/kalor-public-art-projects/sets/barrangal-dyara-skin-and-bones-audio-described-tour
Jones was the first Australian to be selected for the Kaldor Public Art Project. The Project included a downloadable smartphone app that activated as the public walked the site, allowing you conversations that inspired the project to be heard. With insights from cultural leaders, historians, theorists, artists, writers and cultural practitioners discussing the ideas surrounding barrangal dyara (skin and bones).
Listen to the podcast above to hear Jonathan Jones speaking with Khi-Lee Thorpe for SBS Living Black Radio.
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Collaborating communities on Barrangal Dyara include:
The Sydney Language, with Summer Loggins, Lille Madden, Madeleine Madden, Miah Madden and Ruby Madden. For Gamilaraay, Aaron Ellis, and the children of Tamworth Public School and Walhallow Public School. For Gumbaynggirr, Michael Jarrett, Jenni Farrands, Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Cooperative, 3rd Space Mob Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation, and the children of Bellingen High School, Macksville High School, Nambucca Heads High School and Bowraville Central School. For Gunditjmara, thanks to Joel Wright, Vicki Couzens and the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages. For Ngarrindjeri, Aunty Verna Koolmatrie and the Raukkan Ngarrindjeri community. For Paakantji, thanks to Warlpa Thompson, Kayleen Kerwin, AJ Williams and William Mitchell and the Paakantji Language Circle. For Woiwurrung, my Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin and Aunty Kim Wandin. For Wiradjuri, Uncle Stan Grant Senior, Geoff Anderson, Lionel Lovett, Donna Payne, Skye Harris, Lyretta Gilby, Ron Wardrop and the children of Parkes Public School, Parkes East Public School, Middleton Public School, Parkes High School and Holy Family Primary School.