NAIDOC In Conversation – Keep the fire burning! Blak, loud and proud

Nici Cumpston OAM is a proud Barkandji artist, curator and writer whose family are also of Afghan, Irish and English descent. Her family are from far western New South Wales, but she has been living and working on Kaurna Country in Tarntanyangga for the past thirty years.

She commenced as the inaugural Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2008 and has been the Artistic Director of Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art since 2014.

Having studied fine arts, specialising in Photography at the University of SouthAustralia, she has exhibited her works of art since 1998. Her work has been included in many prestigious awards and exhibitions and her works of art are held in major national and international collections.

Since 2016 she has been a member of the Art Advisory Committee for Parliament House,South Australia, and she is a current Board member of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale and the National Centre for Photography.

Carly Tarkari Dodd is an artist and curator of Kaurna\Narungga and Ngarrindjeri descent who creates culturally significant works blending traditional and contemporary techniques. Influenced by her early education in traditional weaving under the guidance of Ngarrindjeri elder Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, Carly has recently delved into sculptural woven pieces. In 2018, she was the winner of the South Australia NAIDOC Young Person of the Year award recognising her collaborative efforts within the SA arts community. Carly has showcased her artwork and conducted art workshops at notable events such as WOMAdelaide (2023), Spirit Festival (2017), and the Art Gallery of South Australia (2020). She was most recently a finalist in the 2023 MAKE Award: Biennial Prize for Innovation in Australian Craft and Design . Carly’s ongoing interest in regalia is a central theme to her work communicating the injustices faced by the Aboriginal community, whilst giving a voice to those marginalised by society.

Dominic Guerrera is a Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna and Italian person living on Kaurna Yarta. His practice includes curating, poetry, writing, podcasting and photography, focussing primarily on the social justice issues faced by Aboriginal peoples. He is currently employed as a First Nations Producer at Country Arts SA. In 2021, Guerrera was awarded The Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize for his poem ‘Unwelcome To Country’.

Sonya Rankine is a Ngarrindjeri, Ngadjuri, Narungga and Wirangu artist who has established herself as a weaver under her business name of Lakun Mara. Lakun Mara means 'Weaving Hand' in Ngarrindjeri language. Lakun Mara is weaving + culture and is at the heart of her art that is strongly linked to cultural maintenance, survival and revival.