Set of two Newspaper clippings from The Courier, Ballarat, 8 July 2021 .1 - titled "Congratulations to the Ballarat Tramway Museum on receiving $1.2m from the Andrews Government for track replacement.". Item sponsored by Juliana Addison MP. Has a photo of 10 people alongside Geelong No. 2 at the time of the announcement. .2 - "First Nations Art on the move" - featuring a photo of a B class tram, by Deanne Gilson (local Ballarat artist) and Thomas Marks. Photo by James Morgan.art work, transporting art, b class

My name is Deanne Gilson and I am a proud Wadawurrung woman living on my ancestral Country around Ballarat in Victoria. My practise aims to highlight and bring back traditional women’s symbols and ceremonial practises that reference the lived experience of my ancestors. By reviving traditional marks found on artefacts and women’s business, I am forming links with past ancestral knowledge so that is not lost and continues for the future generations. My art practice relies heavily on the use of symbols and form as a metaphor for the body. I have worked as a full-time artist for over thirty-five years. Many artworks tell stories of the spiritual aspects of culture and myths. Dreaming and Songlines, further creating a yarning space, bring the gap towards reconciliation and healing for my people and others through shared sharing stories. A main focus of my art practice tells the birthing tree and scar tree stories and how Wadawurrung women have evolved and survived, since before and after colonisation. The old symbols find new life, connecting to the contemporary ones, further connecting us all to this Country we all call home.Yaluk, Beep, Murrup, meaning Water, Country, Spirit, incorporates the traditional mark of the wave pattern (often found on wooden shields) used by my ancestors, along with the basalt plains across Wadawurrung Country. By depicting the interaction between the Water and Country, I use ancestral knowledges that are not seen but intuitive to myself, while juxtaposing them against the ancestral stone circle knowledges, embedded with the DNA of our stories. The ochre is reclaimed as real, it is marni-beek, meaning Country, in particular the white ceremonial ochre, often seen on the painted-up figure and used today to reconnect back to our ancestral memory. Reclaiming what was lost through colonisation, but still present in our Dreaming that flows on today through the water spirit. Country has no time limits and water connects to our bodies, which are made up of water. We as a clan, are still here today, living and being on Country, our ancestral spirits live on through us. The original painting is a contemporary account of using ochre to reclaim ancestral knowledge and to be part of the ceremony that is yaluk, beep, murrup. wadawurrung, deanne gilson, water, country, spirit, first nations art

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). The colours of this cloak refer to natural pink ochre and indigenous flowering plants on Wadawurrung Dja. The pink ochre is sourced by Deanne Gilson at Black Hill in Ballarat, Victoria. Men also made woven dilly bags to hold their possessions in. The basket making was an ongoing aspect of daily life for Wadawurrung people and often done in cooler months when the weather was too bad to go outside. Many women and family groups had their own style and techniques that were traded amongst other groups. Wadawurrung women had a particular stitch they used and incorporated elaborate symbols into the basket designs. Tammy Gilson’s weaving represents this stitch. This cloak pays homage to them and the changing seasons as they created, particularly the cooler months leading into the warmer season when several gum blossom flower. This cloak was worn once by artist Deanne Gilson at a formal opening at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2022. A Welcome to Country ceremony was performed while wearing it.Pink native flower in baskets motif on a pink background on outer cloak, pink and white diamond and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). The black swan cloak refers to the black swan of Geelong and Ballarat were the swan has had its own fight to survive during the early colonial years where white swans were introduced by colonisers and the black swan fought back as they do not naturally get along. The wave pattern is taken from a traditional shield pattern held in the Melbourne Museum, South Eastern archive collection of shields. The wave refers to the water and travelling across water to fish, hunt and survive. This cloak is about survival, water, and the swan living on the water. It also refers to a contemporary dance of Kunuwarra the black swan, which was performed by a group Wadawurrung women (including artist Deanne Gilson) for Tanderrum (Melbourne – Naarm) in 2016. The dance is available to watch on youtube.Black swan, heart motif with water design on outer cloak, female figure and red native flower design on lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, first nations art, wadawurrung dja

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future).The sacred banksia tree was a favourite for Wadawurrung people. Flowering before deep Winter, the banksia was used for spear making and other wooden tools. The sap was drunk as a sweet drink and the seed pods used for water straining and fire sticks. The banksia tree flowers at the time when fire sticks farming is practiced marking the days before the coldest days and nights and the hotter days.White, orange, and yellow banksia design on outer cloak, yellow and white circle and diamond design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future. The white ochre was used to create the feather pattern. White ochre is deeply connected to spirit or ‘murrup’ as we call it in language. The ochre is used on our bodies in ceremonies to paint our body up and is also placed on graves when someone passes. The white ochre is our most sacred connection to our ancestors and is used to celebrate both life and death. I source the white ochre from the You Yangs and only take what I need for ceremony and my painting.White and black feather motif with yellow eye design on outer clock, brown feather motif in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). Bunjil the eagle used to be a man called Karringalabil. As a man he created the first man and woman out of bark from the sacred manna gum tree and clay from the river bed. He created the plants, animals, mountains, waterways, sky and under Country. After which he turned himself into an eagle. He has two wives, Kunuwarra the black swan sisters. After he completed all of creation he flew up into the sky at Lal Lal Falls and he now watched over us as a star in the night sky and as an eagle by day.Brown, red and white tone feather motif with yellow eye design on outer clock, red and black diamond and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). Waa the Crow Totem Cloak (Waa represents our ancestors watching over us). Waa and all the birds get their names by the sounds the bird makes.Blue feather motif with blue star background on outer clock, blue and black feather design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future. The murnong was one of the main food sources for First Peoples before colonisation as it grew right across Wadawurrung Dja. The introduction of the sheep and cattle saw the murnong eaten roots and all and it quickly became less plentiful. The tubers were eaten raw or roasted on a fire. Water could be added to make a paste for small children to eat. The woman’s wooden digging stick that was used to gather and harvest plants was often buried with the woman for her afterlife and is considered sacred women’s knowledge. All parts of the plants and trees were and still are honoured as sacred medicine, healing plants and bush food knowledge.Yellow flower and female figure motif on black background on outer cloak, black and white diamond, and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). This cloak represents a traditional shield and stands for strength, resilience and standing proud. It protects us as we move forward. The gold represents the gold fields of Ballarat and Golden Plains shire. It also represents fool’s gold (pyrite) as First People had no use of gold, instead the people are the gold.Black, white, and red stripe design with flower and stem motif on outer cloak. Lining is a red and white stripe motif. Trimming is solid black. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future). Deanne states that this is her favourite season and she loves painting the small orchids as they flower after the cold season begins to clear.Black cloak with pink and purple toned flower motif on outer cloak, purple and black diamond, and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

Dr Deanne Gilson is a proud Wadawurrung woman living on her ancestral Country of Ballarat. Her award-winning multidisciplinary art practice has spanned forty years full time creating through painting, clay (sculptural installation), fashion & textile design, photography, drawing and recently being recognised at the Koorie Heritage Trust for her work as a Blak Jewellery Designer. Celebrating her continued living culture through art and design that revives traditional marks used by Wadawurrung family, contemporary ceremonial business and including oral stories like her Creation Story. She depicts many indigenous plants, trees, birds, often painting endangered species to highlight the importance of taking care of the land and all living things. Working with the notion that time is traversed and all is connected through layers of Dja (Country), from the Cosmos, to Sky to Under Country. Alongside the issues faced by Aboriginal women stemming from the white male and female colonial gaze. Matrices and images made by the artist at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and editions printed at Negative Press. Edition of 4 + A/P. Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Dr Deanne Gilson is a proud Wadawurrung woman living on her ancestral Country of Ballarat. Her award-winning multidisciplinary art practice has spanned forty years full time creating through painting, clay (sculptural installation), fashion & textile design, photography, drawing and recently being recognised at the Koorie Heritage Trust for her work as a Blak Jewellery Designer. Celebrating her continued living culture through art and design that revives traditional marks used by Wadawurrung family, contemporary ceremonial business and including oral stories like her Creation Story. She depicts many indigenous plants, trees, birds, often painting endangered species to highlight the importance of taking care of the land and all living things. Working with the notion that time is traversed and all is connected through layers of Dja (Country), from the Cosmos, to Sky to Under Country. Alongside the issues faced by Aboriginal women stemming from the white male and female colonial gaze. Matrices and images made by the artist at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and editions printed at Negative Press. Edition of 4 + A/P. Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Marlene is a proud Wadawurrung artist, who currently lives in regional Victoria. Gilson’s multi-figure paintings work to overturn the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and re-contextualising the representation of historical events. Learning her Wathaurung history from her grandmother, Gilson began painting while recovering from an illness. The artist's meticulously rendered works display a narrative richness and theatrical quality akin to the traditional genre of history painting. Gilson, however, privileges those stories relating to her ancestral land, which covers Ballarat, Werribee, Geelong, Skipton and the Otway Ranges in Victoria. Often including her two totems, Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow, Gilson’s paintings not only reconfigure historical narratives, but display her spiritual connection to Country. Matrices and images made by the artist at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and editions printed at Negative Press. Edition of 4 + A/P. Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Edwina Green is a Trawlwoolway First Nations multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) that works across painting, film, design, installation and sculpture to investigate narratives of perception, historical re-framing, cultural reclamation and the post- colonial paradigm and its impact on people and place. Graduating from The University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, she has since been exhibited extensively across Australia and internationally. Her research influenced practice, connection to culture, and ties to reclaiming intergenerational disconnection, inform her practice and it’s aims to challenge understandings and interactions of Indigeneity through dynamic and poetic works. She has exhibited in respected galleries and festivals such as Firstdraft, Pari Ari, Incinerator Gallery, The Granville Centre, SEVENTH Gallery, TCB Gallery, Collarworks (New York), Yirramboi, Gertrude St Projection Festival, Brunswick Music Festival, and EFFA (Environmental Film Festival.) She has also worked as an art director, producer and programmer for RISING Melbourne, Samsung, Arts Centre Melbourne, Next Wave, and Darebin City Council. Edition of 4 + A/P. Pigment print by Hound & Bone Studio, screen printed and assembled by the artist and Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Transfer drawing made at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and screen printed at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Marlene is a proud Wadawurrung artist, who currently lives in regional Victoria. Gilson’s multi-figure paintings work to overturn the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and re-contextualising the representation of historical events. Learning her Wathaurung history from her grandmother, Gilson began painting while recovering from an illness. The artist's meticulously rendered works display a narrative richness and theatrical quality akin to the traditional genre of history painting. Gilson, however, privileges those stories relating to her ancestral land, which covers Ballarat, Werribee, Geelong, Skipton and the Otway Ranges in Victoria. Often including her two totems, Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow, Gilson’s paintings not only reconfigure historical narratives, but display her spiritual connection to Country. Matrices and images made by the artist at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and editions printed at Negative Press. Edition of 4 + A/P. Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

Ellie Franks is a proud Gubbi Gubbi woman, living and working in Naarm. Her practice is print informed and utilises print techniques to talk to concepts of identity, belonging and connection. She focuses on the malleability of materials and leans into the fluid nature of various mediums, mistakes and chance. Ellie graduated from RMIT University in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and is currently participating in the 2023 Koorie Heritage Trust Blak Design Program. Matrices and images made by the artist at Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Community Centre, and editions printed at Negative Press. Edition of 4 + A/P. Printed by Trent Walter at Negative Press. public art, australian first nations art, printmaking

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, portrait, photography, digital, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, digital, portrait, photography, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, digital, portrait, photography, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, portrait, photography, digital, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, portrait, photography, digital, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, portrait, photography, digital, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, photography, digital, portrait, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling.african diaspora, portrait, digital, photography, australian first nations art, first nations photography

This work was created during a program called Flipping the Script, funded via Wyndham City Council and Creative Victoria, August - September 2018. The project was aimed at young women from the African diaspora, to provide an opportunity to learn methods of digital and visual storytelling. african diaspora, portrait, photography, digital, australian first nations art, first nations photography

Since our early ancestors first glimpsed their reflection in water the mirror has served as our most immediate means of personal identification. While our sene of self is intricately linked to our physical image, the discovery of DNA and subsequent mapping of the human genome has introduced a new mode of observation and level ofperception, on the one hand acutely defining out personal differences, while at the same time extending our awareness beyond the bounds of individualism and enabling us to witness our undeniable bonds with the rest of the natural world. This work has multiple levels of meaning, drawing on DNA sequencing patterns as living code, while high lighting the very fluidity created between extremes of biological distinction and our shifting states of identity and perception. public art, australian first nations art

Ngaya is a cut and paste, collage, punked-up look at my Country. It’s a country with conflicting narratives which the film explores through found footage and animation. It looks at Country from an insider-outsider perspective, someone who at once belongs to the Country but who has never lived on Country for any extended time, and has viewed it from Naarm for the past twenty years. I want people to think about the snow country away from being a holiday destination to be exploited, to think about the first people of the snow and fragility of Country. australian first nations art, video, ngarigo, animation, identity, country

Tony Albert’s 2022 solo exhibition at Sullivan+Strumpf, Remark, continues the artist’s investigation into the imagery and identification of appropriated Indigenous Australian iconography in domestic decoration and design. Incorporating fabric from his extensive collection of ‘Aboriginalia’, Remark sees Albert expand on his acclaimed Conversations with Margaret Preston series dimensionality, critically engaging with the fabric in his own right. Like the fabric of Australian society, the appropriated Indigenous imagery printed on souvenir tea towels intertwines in a complicated web of national identity. These are not images by Aboriginal people and our voices and autonomy continued to be silenced through the object’s inauthenticity. As a country we must reconcile with these objects’ very existence. They are painful reiterations of a violent and oppressive history, but we also cannot hide or destroy them because they are an important societal record that should not be forgotten. As an artist this juxtaposition and tension fascinates me. Tony Albert’s multidisciplinary practice investigates contemporary legacies of colonialism, prompting audiences to contemplate the human condition. Drawing on both personal and collective histories, Albert explores the ways in which optimism can be utilised to overcome adversity. His work poses important questions such as how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories. Albert’s technique and imagery are distinctly contemporary, displacing traditional Australian Aboriginal aesthetics with an urban conceptuality. Appropriating textual references from sources as diverse as popular music, film, fiction, and art history, Albert plays with the tension arising from the visibility, and in-turn, the invisibility of Aboriginal People across the news media, literature, and the visual world. australian first nations art, colonialisation