Bayadyinyang budyari Dharug yiyura Dharug Ngurra.
Bayady’u budyari Dharug Warunggadgu baranyiin barribugu.
Bayady’u budyari wagulgu yiyuragu Ngurra bimalgu Blacktown City. Flannel flowers dyurali bulbuwul.
Yanmannyang mudayi Dharug Ngurrawa. Walama ngyini budbud dali Dharug Ngurra Dharug yiyura baranyiin barribugu.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land, the Dharug people, and their continued connection to Country.
We pay our respects to Elders from yesterday to tomorrow.
We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Blacktown City where the flannel flowers still grow proud and strong.
We will walk softly on this land and open our hearts to Country as the Dharug people have for tens of thousands of years.
Credit to: Dharug woman Rhiannon Wright, daughter of Leanne ‘Mulgo’ Watson Redpath and granddaughter of Aunty Edna Watson
Cook Island Australian artist, Morgan Hogg’s The last coconut drifted exhibition, takes its title from Manihikian poet Kauraka Kauraka.
Exploring culture and intergenerational knowledge sharing, Morgan celebrates her Cook Island heritage with video, sound, textiles and carving.
Woven throughout this exhibition is a sense of community, Morgan’s family and friends have been invited to make with her. Each piece then becomes imbued with many layers of history – both contemporary and traditional.
The last coconut drifted encourages viewers to take a moment to reflect on their own community and what stories or skills have been passed from one generation to another.
The Leo Kelly Blacktown Arts Centre
Wednesday 4 June
6.00 pm to 8.30 pm
Cost: $20 + booking fee
Limited spaces available, book your spot now
Join us for an intimate gathering celebrating The last coconut drifted, a solo exhibition by Morgan Hogg.
Featuring a live performance by Morgan and an artist kōrero with special guests: Cook Islands sculptor Henry Tavioni, and cultural guardian Gina Tavioni Bamber, founders of Te Toki Tupuna (Cook Islands Heritage and Arts Society).
To end the night, savour a thoughtfully prepared meal from Lawan Catering, specially chosen by Henry and Gina.
This is a night for deep listening, for connecting across oceans, generations, and disciplines.
| Morgan Hogg is an emerging artist and creative producer of Cook Island Māori (Ngāti Tāne), Tahitian and English descent, living and working on unceded Wangal and Dharug lands. Through the perspective of her Kūki ‘Airani heritage, Hogg utilises installation and performance as visual representations of her own exploration of cultural displacement and identity. Making space within her practice to rely on oral exchange between her familial relations and community, Hogg continues the story of her ancestry through maintaining traditional practices within a contemporary lens. She has completed a BVA(Hons)/ BAS (Film studies) at Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney. Currently studying a Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney. Hogg has exhibited and performed works at Firstdraft, Performance Space, Beirut Art Centre, Sculpture by the Sea, Bankstown Arts Centre, SCA Gallery, Casula Powerhouse, PICA, Carriageworks and the Art Gallery of NSW. You can find Morgan on Instagram here |
Kauraka Kauraka was born in Avatiu, Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. He earned his BA from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and an MA in anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Of Manihiki, Mangaian, and Chinese descent, Kauraka explored Polynesian cultural history and traditions in his work, including oral and folk forms. He authored six collections of poetry in English and Cook Island Maori, including Return to Havaiki (1985) Dreams of a Rainbow: Moemoea a Te Anuanua: Poems (1987), Manakonako (Reflections) (1992), and My Dawning Star (1999). In addition to being a poet, writer, and musician, Kauraka was a professional anthropologist with the Ministry of Cultural Development, Cook Islands, at the time of his death.
You can buy his works on various platforms online.
This project is presented by Blacktown Arts and supported by Blacktown City Council.
An innovative multi-arts hub in the heart of Blacktown City.
Blacktown Arts supports artists through annual opportunities across prizes, exhibitions, funding opportunities, and studio spaces for local creatives.
Explore Blacktown City’s rich arts and cultural collections.
Blacktown City’s annual acquisitive art prize open to artists across Australia, with a prize pool of over $23,500.