The idea of Ngargee Djeembana was developed by Senior Boonwurrung Elder N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM and Palawa built environment practitioner Sarah Lynn Rees in response to the curatorial invitation to develop a gathering space for art, performance and the exchange of ideas. From our first discussions, Aunty Carolyn Briggs introduced us to the philosophical ideas of Ngargee and Djeembana:
‘Ngargee reflects the coming together of the visual arts, performance, story and dance. It is focused upon bringing people together for cultural practice, ceremony and performance, giving us a place where we can create and find our own narratives’.
Djeembana refers to the idea of diversity within our community. As Briggs continues:
‘Uniting people in their diversity, Djeembana gives us a sense of purpose, for broader communities to come together with their cultural practices, to develop their own narratives, in whatever forms they choose’.
Reflecting on the character and composition of public spaces across Victoria, and the material identity of Country, Ngargee Djeembana brings First Nations philosophical knowledge and design thinking into dialogue with other systems and forms of knowledge – geological, ecological, biophilic – to consider the materiality of public space. As a topographical installation, it is composed of materials which are Indigenous to Victoria and representative of Country and place. It is conceived as an opportunity to bring these materials to life, to tell stories of place, and to make visible and tangible that which might otherwise remain embodied, intangible or repressed.
Interested in the ways in which First Nations philosophical thinking might influence the design and shape of public spaces, ‘as performative spaces for the community’, Sarah Lynn Rees has been exploring ways to Indigenise the built environment, and how it might better reflect ‘the sense of connection and belonging that people feel with place’. As Rees contends:
‘If our public spaces were designed to represent the identity of Country through their materials, what would those materials be? This experiment started from listening to N’arweet talk often about not seeing herself in the built environment. It comes from the belief that architecture has the power to give identity back to Country that’s had its identity taken away by architecture. Architecture is a very disruptive industry, but it doesn’t have to be. It can actually reinforce place, and reinforce stories and narratives, as well as health, wellbeing and identity – if we just shift the way we approach design’.
The materials in this installation are derived from an audit of public spaces and commonly used materials in the built environment across Victoria. In this sense, the Ngargee Djeembana project is also a way to understand how culture, geology and ecology are connected, and what that means in terms of the material identity of public space and Country.
About the designers:
N’arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM is founding Chair of the Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council and custodian of the Yalukit Willam in Birrung-ga. She is Indigenous Research Fellow in the Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous research lab, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Monash University.
Sarah Lynn Rees is an associate and Lead Indigenous Advisor at Jackson Clements Burrows Architects, is a Lecturer at Monash University and program advisor and curator of the BLAKitecture series for MPavilion. She is Director of Parlour: Women, Equity, Architecture, a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel for the Office of the Victorian Government Architect, and Co-Chair of the Australian Institute of Architects First Nations Advisory Working Group.
Read more about the work:
Ngargee Djeembana: Interim Material Research Report, December 2021
Dulux colours in this space: Vivid White
