“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 2024 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’.

"Our family structures and clan-to-clan relationally are the framework through which our children are introduced to world views existing beyond Modern ideas of time. Without the mapping of our kinship we are lost.” — Lorna Munro, A Blak Matriarchal Lens

"A wall painting spanning the gallery has been lifted from Black Matriarchs; in particular, the Macdonald river, which flows up and down Anaiwan Country. Rendered in a deep claret, it could be thought of as blood, a life-force stretching across generations like a long strand of double-helix DNA." — 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

A series of programs, open to the public and closed for mob, framed ARKAN & IRBELA within a broader project, grounded in Gabi Briggs' familial connection to Anaiwan Country and formalised by her PhD research.

Opening, Sat 29 Sept, 3 → 5pm

Featuring an introduction by Gabi and Stacie Piper (Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung, Ngurai Illum Wurrung)

Conversation with Julie Gough, Sat 28 Sept, 11am → 12pm

Gabi Briggs and Julie Gough (Trawlwoolway) engaged with the complexities of land ownership and access as explored in their practices. Read on Offsite.

KARA Workshop, Sat 2 Nov, 11am → 12pm

Hosted by Gabi Briggs, this workshop explored the Anaiwan Skinship System, manifesting reality, identity and ethics derived from Country and the relationships it sustains.

KARA offered Anaiwan community the opportunity to foster a deeper understanding of their identity and connection to Place, while navigating the complexities of cultural revitalisation and the way knowledge persists in family structures and relationships, even when not explicitly passed down.