Celebrating the International Year of Indigenous Languages
On 18 November, First Nations students in Years 7-11 from Alexandria Park CS, Tempe HS, Mt Allan, Laramba and Hermannsburg Schools participated in Red Room Poetry's Gadigal project. Students worked with Gadigal poet, Joel Davison and Aboriginal Educators at The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW and NASCA.
Rotating through workshops, students explored bush medicine and tucker, created artworks inspired by Country using pinhole cameras, played traditional Indigenous games and wrote poetry in Gadigal language. Poems from the project in Gadigal and Anmatyerr language will be published in an exhibition with local Elders and Royal Botanic Garden Sydney in 2020 for Florilegium.
On Gadigal land, Poetry in First Languages is supported by The Nelson Meers Foundation, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, NASCA and Art Gallery of NSW. Developed by Gunai poet Kirli Saunders and delivered by Red Room Poetry, PIFL celebrates, shares and preserves knowledge of First Nations languages and culture through poetry, music and art.
Poems and soundscapes
- Read the poems >
- See the workshop photos >
- Play poem recording >
Collaborative poem created by students Maridian, Tanisha, Mary, Jarrod, Cornelius and Kamish. Read by Kirli Saunders.
On Gadigal Country
"It was developed on the banks of the Shoalhaven River, where I could hear those ancestors singing and wanted to know what they were saying." ~ Kirli Saunders, Poetry in First Languages creator. Play audio recording >