Indigenous Architecture explored at MPavilion

Forming part of MPavilion’s inaugural 2017 Regional Program, BLAKitecture on Tuesday 5 December 2017 will explore Indigenous Architecture in an open forum and bring together Indigenous built environment practitioners from across Australia to MPavilion, on the Yalukit Willam land of the Boon Wurrung people.

Sarah Lynn Rees, a Palawa, Plangermaireener woman, IADV director and manager of MPavilion’s 2017 Regional Program said, “Everything built in Australia is built on Aboriginal land; however, there are currently only five practising Indigenous architects in Australia, and there is a long way to go before population parity with non-Indigenous people in the profession is reached.”

As part of MPavilion’s inaugural Regional program – which questions how, through design, we might respectfully embed our Indigenous past, present and future and our colonial history, while also embracing our multicultural, technological, agricultural and industrial evolutions – BLAKitecture will extend these themes while tackling contemporary questions, like what is Indigenous architecture? How do we empower the profession with a sensibility to work with Indigenous communities? And how can we encourage young Indigenous people to take up a career in the built environment?

The forum will be chaired by Sarah Lynn Rees, a Palawa, Plangermaireener woman, IADV director and manager of MPavilion’s 2017 Regional Program. Speakers include: architect Kevin O’Brien, Kaurereg and Meriam, Torres Strait; architect Andrew Lane, whose Aboriginal heritage comes from his mother, who was born in a town camp in Walcha, NSW; architect Dillon Kombumerri, Yugembir; landscape architect and visual artist Paul Herzich, Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna; designer Linda Kennedy, Yuin, Dharawhal; architect and IADV founding director Jefa Greenaway, Wailwan/Kamilaroi; and founding director of IADV and commissioner of the Victorian Environmental Water Holder, Rueben Berg, Gundijmara.

MPavilion’s Regional Program has been developed and devised in collaboration with Rebecca Coates, Director of Shepparton Art Museum. The program is held at Shepparton Art Museum, Geelong Gallery and MPavilion.

Event Details:
What: BLAKitecture, mpavilion.org/program/blakitecture
When: Tuesday 5 December 2017, 6.00pm–8.00pm
Where: MPavilion, Queen Victoria Gardens, opposite the Arts Centre on St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Cost: Free and open to the public