“ARKAN & IRBELA”
Gabi Briggs
7 Sept → 10 Nov 2024

West Space is proud to present the first major filmic work by Gabi Briggs, as part of our Commission series.

Nurturing the legacy of her late nan Patsy Cohen’s research – formalised in Patsy’s 1990 book Ingelba and the Five Black Matriarchs – ARKAN & IRBELA sees the gallery transformed into a location for the two women to dialogue across time and space, film and print publishing.

ARKAN & IRBELA presents coded knowledge and stories from their family's history on Anaiwan Country, Northern New South Wales. Central to this is the Anaiwan Skinship System – a network of complex relations that define an individual’s responsibilities and relationships to Community and Country, and from which Blak, Anaiwan femininity emerges. The work honours the manifestations of reality, identity and ethics in the Skinship System, that are inherently derived from Country and the relations it sustains.

Structured along conversations and relational moments with family members, ARKAN & IRBELA materialises Anaiwan knowledge within a Story of resurgence, demonstrating the power of cultivating an inter-generational code of ethics within an ongoing relationship to Place. Patsy Cohen generated the research for her book by walking Country with family and Community, revitalising cultural knowledge and story through Place-based memory.

ARKAN & IRBELA engages in a non-linear dialogue with her methodology and intention, by articulating how their family is embedded within the matrix of Anaiwan Country.

Both Briggs’ and Cohen’s research constitute a continued connection to Country, family and culture. By anchoring her practice of Anaiwan cultural revitalisation through that of her nan’s, ARKAN & IRBELA embodies the sentiment expressed by Wakka Wakka and Kombumerri Professor Aunty Mary Graham, ‘I am located, therefore I am’.

Read Lorna Munro's A Blak Matriarchal Lens, and Sebastian Henry-Jones' On ARKAN & IRBELA.

Film credits

Ārkan: Kristy Faulkner, Gabi Briggs, Breanna Gordon-Briggs, Caity Briggs, Michaela Gordon-Briggs
Iāna: Lee Hughes, Susan Briggs, Carolyn Briggs, Nicola Briggs, Winnie Widders
Irakēna: Wendy Strong, Angela Cohen, Kaeilyha Smith
Patyang: Krissa Daley, Mariah Cohen-Ahoy

Director: Gabi Briggs (Anaiwan Gedyura)
Executive Producer: Genevieve Grieves (Worimi)
Production Manager: Amy Hammond (Gamilaroi Yinarr)

ARKAN & IRBELA is a West Space Commission supported by Creative Australia, Creative Victoria, GARUWA, and Yinarr Maramali.

Programs

Gabi Briggs framed ARKAN & IRBELA within a broader project, grounded in her familial connection to Anaiwan Country and formalised by her PhD research.

Programs comprised both in-person and online discussions, some open to all audiences, with others closed for mob only.

1. Opening, introduction by Gabi Briggs and Stacie Piper (Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung, Ngurai Illum Wurrung), 29 Sept, 3 → 5pm
2. Gabi Briggs conversation with Julie Gough (Trawlwoolway), 28 Sept, 11am → 12pm
3. KARA workshop for Anaiwan Community, 2 Nov, 11am → 12pm
4. Reflection with Gabi Briggs for mob only, 10 Nov, 11am

Hosted by Gabi Briggs, KARA explored the Anaiwan Skinship System, manifesting Anaiwan reality, identity and ethics derived from Country and the relationships it sustains. It offered Anaiwan people the opportunity to foster a deeper understanding of Anaiwan identity and connection to Place, while navigating the complexities of cultural revitalisation.

Building on the legacy of Anaiwan Matriarch Patsy Cohen’s research, and guided by Anaiwan researcher Callum Clayton-Dixon, KARA explored the way cultural knowledge persists in family structures and relationships, even when not explicitly passed down. Gabi demonstrates that knowledge is ingrained in the structure of Anaiwan families. As the saying goes, 'when a pattern is well established, it can’t help but repeat itself'.