Turpentine trees feature in First Nations exhibition installation

A large-scale architectural gunyah structure made from Bundanon’s turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera) trees is just one facet of a major collaboration celebrating South Coast NSW stories and upholding local Aboriginal values and kinships.

Bundanon has unveiled bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country, an exhibition of new works created by Walbunja/Ngarigo artist Aunty Cheryl Davison, Gweagal/Wandiwandian artist Aunty Julie Freeman, and Wiradyuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones, open until 9 February 2025.

The exhibition also features a 75-metre-long mural tracking the coastline from Sydney to just over the Victorian border, a suite of paintings, and ambitious large-scale screenprints. The season also includes drawings by 19th Yuin artist Mickey of Ulladulla, loaned from key collections across Australia, providing a historical anchor point for the new commissions and connecting South Coast narratives from past to present.

Bundanon guest curator, Jonathan Jones, is a member of the Wiradyuri and Kamilaroi peoples of south east Australia and is well known for his evocative site-specific installations and interventions into space. Working across a range of mediums, his work explores and interrogates cultural and historical relationships and ideas from Indigenous perspectives and traditions.

Connecting the three gallery spaces are bespoke soundscapes, featuring recordings of local oceans and streams, stories spoken in the local language, and Cockatoo birdsong. These new soundscapes sing the stories of this place, celebrating local traditions and the ongoing collaboration of these three artists and cultural leaders.

Bundanon is an art museum, wildlife sanctuary, and cultural destination on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Image credit: Aunty Cheryl Davison, Aunty Julie Freeman, Mickey of Ulladulla and Jonathan Jones, bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country, installation view, Bundanon 2024. Photo: Zan Wimberley