I acknowledge the many Traditional Owners, Custodians and Lore Keepers of Country in Australia and indigenous people globally and honour their elders, past, present and emerging.
We respect their deep enduring connection to lands, waterways and each other since time immemorial and acknowledge ownership was never ceded.
We value the diversity and richness of First Nations peoples’ artistic and cultural expressions as the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.
I am privileged to live on Country in Australia and through this text to share knowledge and theory about culture, interculturality and art.
Australia is home to some of the most oldest and most important collections of rock art in the world.
Over 15,000 year old art work in Quinkan Country, Ang Gnarra (Laura), Queensland, Australia features dingoes, eels and humans.
According to the Ang-Gnarra Aboriginal Corporation, Quinkan Country takes its name from the spirit figures which are featured in an array of rock art galleries, located across the Laura Basin region of sandstone. They are listed on the Australian Heritage Estate, the National Heritage List and are listed by UNESCO as being one of the top 10 rock art sites in the world.
Convivencia conforms with Creative Australia’s Protocols for using First Nations Intellectual and Cultural Property in the Arts. This protocol sets out the legal, ethical and moral considerations for the use of Indigenous cultural material in arts and cultural projects and “recognises that in Indigenous Australian communities, the artist is a custodian of culture with obligations as well as privileges”.