A mile in the shoes of two proud pakana artists
We speak with Vicki West and Tegan Murray on their first joint show, an exhibition 36 years in the making.
When photographer Tegan Murray was a little girl, she’d follow her mother, sculptor Vicki West, around the shores of Lutruwita’s north-east coast while she collected the kelp and shells that feature in her artworks. Although not always willingly, Vicki jokes.
This coastline has deep significance to the pakana women, who are descendants of the Trawlwoolway people of north-east Tasmania.
“It’s about feeling,” Tegan says. “On Country is where I feel the most me. The most alive. The most ‘at home’.”
This September, Vicki and Tegan host their first joint exhibition, milaythina-ti, which means “in Country” in palawa kani. Centred around connection to homeland, the Design Tasmania-hosted exhibition pairs kelp sculptures – a material which signifies survival, Vicki says – with landscape photography. Each is presented in sets of nine, to signify the nine family groups of Lutruwita before colonisation.
Credit: OSCAR2
While Vicki and Tegan’s artistic partnership is new, the duo already work together through Meenah Neenah, an arts program for at-risk Aboriginal children living in Tasmania’s north.
Vicki is program coordinator; Tegan visits schools to deliver culturally sensitive support through art, using both traditional and contemporary materials and techniques.
On weekends, Vicki and Tegan drive two hours from their homes in Launceston to their ancestral beach. “I only collect what is washed up, what is given,” Vicki says. “Nothing is taken from its life source.” Vicki makes her sculptures at home, which did not always please her children. “They’d say, ‘Why can’t you work outside, Mum?’’ and I’d tell them to go outside and play!”
For Tegan, an art-filled childhood and a lifelong connection to Country collided when she picked up a camera seven years ago, after the birth of her son, Cooper. She’s a popular wedding photographer, and this show marks her first official artistic endeavour. We might see a third-generation West/Murray artist, too: young Cooper has announced he “wants to be a ‘tographer’ when he grows up”, Tegan says.
milaythina-ti, an exhibition by Vicki West and Tegan Murray, runs from 14 September to 27 October at Design Tasmania, corner of Brisbane and Tamar streets, Launceston.