PROJECT
Tash Gillespie
Elly Jones showing sand mandala to a child, Place Names Moora
Honouring the strength, resilience, and cultural pride of Yued people, Place Names Moora brought to the fore previously untold stories from Yued Country. Through the written word, podcasts, visual art and photography, the project celebrated the powerful lived experiences of Elders and community members who recalled their childhood memories of growing up in Moora and the surrounding areas.
Many Elders shared their memories with community artist Sandy McKendrick,
who was then invited by the storytellers to create watercolours of their
recollections. These vivid reflections and artworks have been published in Kep Gabi: Stories from Yued Country. With its recurring theme of kep/gabi
(water) and its significance to history, place, family, and culture for the Yued
people, the Kep Gabi publication documents these culturally significant stories
so they might be shared with younger generations and the wider community.
Creative Producer/Artist
Program Manager
Moodjar Director
Be part of a movement that believes community participation in the arts can transform lives, inspire change and create a more inclusive society for us all.
Donations will support creative programs that make a genuine difference to the communities we work with.
Creative Producer/Artist
Sandy is an arts practitioner who works across performance, puppetry and multimedia. She runs Sandpiper Productions, a company creating hybrid art collaborations and performances locally and nationally. She has been an artist in residence in Zambia, South Korea, Cocos and Christmas Island. She is driven by a passion to give voice to the unheard.
Sandy was involved in CAN’s Place Names Moora project, working with local Elders and community members to explore their stories, experiences and languages of Moora and surrounding areas.
Program Manager
Elly is an experienced Program Manager with a passion for creating spaces for connections to grow and for people to be heard. She joined the CAN team in March 2020 as Lullabies Project Coordinator and in 2021 moved into a Program Manager role, overseeing both CAN’s Lullabies and Place Names projects.
Since 2012, Elly has worked in a variety of project coordination and facilitation roles in the arts and community sectors including supporting young people to develop social action projects to advocate for their rights and create positive systemic change.
In 2020, Elly coordinated CAN’s Noongar Lullabies from Home project, bringing Noongar artists and families together online to learn and celebrate Noongar language through the creation and recording of lullabies.
Geri has worked with both Aboriginal community organisations, non-government organisations and government bodies. As the former chairperson of the Southern Aboriginal Corporation she gained experience working in Noongar communities to implement social justice and wellbeing projects. She worked as a project officer with South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council for several years and has been a part of the South West Native Title Settlement, the largest native title settlement in Australian history, which will affect an estimated 30,000 Noongar People 200,000 square kilometres in South West WA.
Moodjar Director
Len Collard is a Whadjuk Nyungar Traditional Owner of the Perth metropolitan area and Professor at School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia. Len’s ground breaking theoretical work and research around decoding Noongar Place Names of the Southwest of Australia has put Nyungar Cultural research on the local, national and international stages.
With a background in literature and communications, Len’s research has allowed the broadening of the understanding of the many unique characteristics of Australian Aboriginal people and contributes to the appreciation of Aboriginal culture and heritage of the Southwest Australia.
Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm
PO Box 7514 Cloisters Square WA 6850
King Street Arts Centre
Ground Floor 357-365 Murray St
Perth WA 6000
08 9226 2422
admin@can.org.au
ABN: 72106364407
Copyright 2024 CAN