JACKSON BELLA ROOM:HOLDING GROUND

HOLDING GROUND is the 10th annual Jackson Bella Room commission by the Museum of Contemporary Art and the first created by a First Nations Australian Artist. Curated by Lucy Latella, the installation provides an invitation for audiences to engage with contemporary art through sensory experience; the only space within the Museum where visitors are encouraged to interact with the work through touch as well as sight smell and sound.

Crafted in line with the principals of First Nations Design using ethical and concidered materials and processes born of relationships (and under collaboration and consultation with First Nations knowledge holders, mentors, cultural practitioners, family, community, industry partners and creative collaborators) Lucy Simpson has translated an experience of Country that is grounded, immersive, gentle and powerful.

Created in response to the current ecological crisis, this sensory body of work comments on fragility, interconnectedness, balance and notions of wellbeing; providing a space in which to slow down and tune in with the energy rhythm and flow of Gunimaa (the Mother / natural world) - in this way encouraging contemplation and reflection in a space of harmony and beauty in these continuing times of social and environmental upheaval.

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Sand-cast recycled glass mussel shells, stitched possum skins, 3D-printed biopolymer (barley husk) kurrajong seed pods, hand crafted timber coolamons, slip cast porcelain emu eggs, stripped lomandra, bespoke wood shelving and steam formed suspension structures, digitally printed textiles, digital HD colour video, two-channel audio. 

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Cultural consultation: Walgan Brenda McBride, Priscilla Strasek, Tom Barker, Ted Fields Jnr, Rhonda Ashby, Nardi Simpson and Dr Jilda Andrews. With special thanks to Goondee Aboriginal Keeping Place, Narran Lake Nature Reserve Aboriginal Co-management Committee, Dharriwaa Elders Group and Bush to Bowl. 

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Production assistance: Sarah Weston, Adam Byrne, Talara Ingram, Isobell Ingram, Jasmine Miikika Craciun, Gerome Te Peeti, Charleigh Te Peeti, Muran Te Peeti, Ryan L Foote, Elise Cakebread, Canberra Glassworks, Saul Mazabow, Material Ecology Design Lab, Basically Bush, Ben Baldwin.

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Video: Sarah Weston and Lucy Simpson

Sound: Nardi Simpson with vocals by Lucy Simpson and Hawaiiki Te Peeti 

Coolamons: Ted Fields, Uraah Healing  

Producer: Sarah Weston 

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Images courtesy Museum of Contemporary Art, Sarah Weston, Lucy Simpson