Image: Amanda Bell, From our mouths, lips, throat and belly, 2021. Installation view, Fremantle Arts Centre.
MAYA KARNI WAANGKARANGKAR – THE STRAIGHT TALKERS
Facilitated by Michelle Broun
An online conversation series for and by First People curators, artists and producers
Australian First People curators and producers collaborate with community and artists to share our stories and deliver our messages to the world.
This speaker series provides insights into the contributions made, and responsibilities and challenges faced, by a group of emerging and established Australian First People curators, artists and producers and others working in the Galleries, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) and cultural heritage sector, leading on the interpretation, presentation and rebuilding of Australian First People art, material culture, digital archives and intangible heritage.
Maya karni waangkarangkar – the straight talkers is programmed and facilitated by Michelle Broun with support from ART ON THE MOVE.
This is a dedicated space for First People artists, curators and creative producers. If you wish to participate but haven’t received an invitation from us, please contact communications@artonthemove.art before registering.
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In 2023-24, ART ON THE MOVE undertook a Statewide survey to inform the new Regional Visual Arts Touring Strategy. The Strategy considers the needs and opportunities relating to Community Collections and Emerging Curator Programs. This series in part looks to continue the conversations that commenced during this time and extend on those which have taken place at several key industry events, including those held in recent years at The State Library of Western Australia and University of Western Australia.
Whilst acknowledging great things are happening, and the allies who support us, the consensus from these forums is that Australian First People cultural heritage and creative industry professionals need more opportunities to come together to exchange knowledge, express our needs and explore what best practices look like in the broader sector.
The initial conversations are for and by First Peoples speakers and participants. Each session will highlight a program or project which allows us to discuss both the positive and challenging aspects of working in the sector, where opportunities lie, and how we move forward together and support each other.
Throughout our discussions, we aim to determine some of the practices, and tangible ways that our artists, curators and sector will benefit and how this should be communicated to the broader sector and institutions.
We look forward to connecting, sharing knowledge and looking to the future together.
– Michelle Broun
CONVERSATION THREE
Artists In Residence – Experiences and Learnings
Thursday 24 July, 10AM — 11AM (AWST)
Online via Zoom
Register Here
Artist-in-Residence programs can offer transformative opportunities — but experiences vary widely for our practitioners, ranging from deeply supportive to culturally unsafe.
In this session, Michelle Broun will facilitate a yarn with Yamatji woman Mandy White, her sister Michelle White, and Badimia/Yued woman Amanda Bell, as they reflect on their personal experiences and explore what best practice looks like in Artist-in-Residence programs.
A Q&A will follow the presentations at 11AM.
About The Speakers
Amanda Bell
Amanda Bell is a Badamia Yamatji and Yued Noongar artist woman living and working on Wardandi Country in Goomburrup/Bunbury. She is represented in several collections including AGWA which acquired the bright pink neon glass sculpture ‘From our lip, mouths, throat and belly’, expressed in the form of the Noongar word ‘Moorditj’ (good or strong).
In 2022 Amanda was a finalist in the John Stringer Art Prize and curated Noongar Country at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. In 2023, Amanda was awarded best overall artist at the ‘South West Art, Now’, BRAG, and with Lee Kinsella, co-curated the second season of KANANGOOR/Shimmer at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery Gallery, contributing the installation ‘…..and the crow is we’.
Between 2023-2025 Amanda’s artist- in- residencies include the Old Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, John Curtin Gallery, Goolugatup/Heathcoate, the Holmes a Court Gallery (Vasse Felix), and currently at the Vessel, The Naval Store, Fremantle.
I seek to engage with others by telling stories in a way that is ‘right way’ for me as an Aboriginal person and artist, and to contribute to making spaces culturally safe in the arts and beyond.
Inspired by my personal experiences of ‘otherness’ and the ongoing dialogue about the position, definition and lives of Aboriginal people , I attempt to say something about the use of language and its role in the creation and maintenance of power structures.
I also honour the rage.
Image: Amanda Bell
Michelle White
Michelle White is an award-winning former ABC journalist with more than thirty years’ experience in television, film, radio, print and digital media.
A proud Yamatij storyteller, she is passionate about sharing the stories of First Nations people and they have formed the basis of many of her creative projects, including documentaries, short stories, publications and plays.
Michelle is an Executive Producer at Community Arts Network (CAN) and has led many acclaimed First Nations projects.
Michelle is also a carer and arts manager for her sister Mandy White who is an award-winning outsider artist. In 2024, Michelle and Mandy attended the Outsider Art Fair In New York City where Mandy’s work was showcased and in 2025, they both travelled to Japan as part of a First Nations cultural exchange supported by DADAA and CAN.
Image: Michelle White
MANDY WHITE
Mandy White is an award-winning Yamatji artist who lives in the Perth foothills. Mandy’s art career began in her 30’s when she started attending art classes at DADAA Midland.
Over the subsequent decade she has become an accomplished painter and sculptor, and a role model for artists with disabilities. Working across a variety of materials and forms, her energetic and experimental works are alive with colour, confidence and emotion.
Mandy has recently exhibited works internationally in 2024 at the Outsider Art Fair, New York and in 2025 she travelled to Japan as part of the DADAA, Australia Japan Cultural Exchange Project suported by Creative Australia. In 2021, she won the prestigious Joondalup Invitational Art Prize.
Image credit: Garry Wilcox
PREVIOUS SESSIONS
CONVERSATION ONE
Curating, Content and Collections
Thursday 3 April, 1PM — 3PM (AWST)
Online via Zoom
Join facilitator Michelle Broun in conversation with Lola Greeno, Clint Bracknell (Maatakitj) and Nicole Monks, for a discussion on the past, present, and future of cultural collections. The session will begin with a Welcome to Country from Dr Len Collard.
About The Speakers
Lola Greeno
Lola Greeno is a Pakana artist, curator and arts worker. Born in 1946 on Cape Barren Island, Tasmania, she specialises in traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace threading, a skill passed down from her mother and maternal grandmother. Lola is the first Indigenous artist to receive the National Living Treasure Award; Master of Australian Craft for 30 years of experience within the craft industry. The Award supported a solo exhibition entitled Cultural Jewels, which toured nationally from 2014–18.
Lola will discuss her life-long passion for cultural revival through the practice of collecting and stringing shells and her invaluable contribution to community as well as major institutions. Lola is also concerned about the protection of cultural intellectual property and cultural identity.
Maatakitj | CLINT BRACKNELL
Singing to the archives – Clint Bracknell is a Noongar song-maker, composer, and Professor of Music at the University of Western Australia. His research intersects with applied linguistics, ethnomusicology, ecomusicology, popular music studies, Australian studies, and Indigenous studies. Clint’s work strengthens the connection between song, language and landscapes and improves Indigenous community access to intangible cultural heritage. Clint will discuss the importance of community access to archives to rebuild culture through song.
Nicole Monks
Nicole Monks is a multi-disciplinary creative curator of Yamaji Wajarri, Dutch and English heritage living and working on Worimi and Awabakal Country (Newcastle). Monks is well known for her success as a solo and collaborative artist and founder of design practice blackandwhite creative as well as public art company mili mili. Her work promotes conversation and connection and Aboriginal philosophies of sustainability, innovation and collaboration. She uses storytelling to connect the past with the present and future.
Nicole will talk about the challenges of accessing The Morton Collection, an early collection of Yamaji cultural materials held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Galleries, and the Gulamanmanah bringing something closer, project, and the opportunities it offers for cultural revival and building community, and the potential to develop a ‘template for return’ for future community.
CONVERSATION TWO
Early Career Curators — Reflections and Opportunities
Thursday 8 May, 1PM — 3PM (AWST)
Online via Zoom
Registrations now closed
What does it mean to be a First People’s curator? In this session, Michelle Broun facilitates a discussion with Lily-Mae Kerley, Kuberan Muir and Candice Nannup, who will reflect on their experiences as emerging curators. The session will begin with a Welcome to Country from Dr Len Collard.
About The Speakers
Lily-Mae Kerley
Lily-Mae Kerley is a Menang Ngadju Noongar / Badimaya Yamaji woman from Geraldton. She is early career artist and curator, who works at Yamaji Art as their Arts Development Officer.
In 2019, Lily-Mae participated in the Aboriginal Art Centre Hub of Western Australia’s Arts Worker Training Program, gaining experience with The Art Gallery of Western Australia and ART ON THE MOVE.
She was involved with the installation of Songlines at WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), later joining the Museum’s Emerging Curator program (2023–24).
Her latest curatorial project was Yamaji Yanajingmanha Barna/Uthudu (2024) at the Geraldton Museum as part of the Indian Ocean Triennial.
Lily-Mae’s arts practice is inspired by the colours of Country, and includes textiles, lino printing, and painting.
KUBERAN MUIR
Kuberan Muir is a member of the Tjiwarl and Manta Rirrtinya native title groups. His family are Ngalia, who are a southern branch of Mantjiltjarra people, and are also part of the Wongutha nation from the Northern Goldfields region.
Kuberan has created works inspired by country, culture and family from both his Australian Aboriginal and Tamilian Hindu ancestry. He is an early career artist with an impressive list of credentials. He is an artist, a curator, an arts centre director and a business operator. He started working as an artist and arts worker supporting artists in Walkatjurra Cultural Centre, spent time studying at Curtin university for his Bachelor of Arts majoring on illustration and photography design.
Kuberan is currently undertaking an Emerging Curators traineeship at the WA Museum, which is building the networks to support his role as curator of the Ngalia collection and the Ngalia Ninti project with Kiwa digital and AWS.
Kuberan has recently rejoined the board of AACHWA where he previously spent four years as a board member, filling the role as youngest deputy chair. He is currently a director of Wakamurru Aboriginal Corporation Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) and Managing Director of Sacred Senses Pty Ltd, an arts-based business.
Kuberan works on commission in photography, digital design and public art murals.
Candice Nannup
Candice Nannup is a Willman, Ballardong Noongar curator and artist based on Wardandi Boodja. Currently serving as the Noongar Country Curator at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery (2025–2027), her emerging curatorial practice is deeply rooted in cultural storytelling, community engagement, and the celebration of Noongar art and identity.
Candice has a background in visual arts and textile experimentation, Candice has explored the intersection of art and fashion, co-producing the inaugural Noongar Arts Program Fashion Show in 2024. Her commitment to elevating First Nations creative voices extends to her work in exhibition development, programming, and mentorship within the Noongar arts community.
Through curatorial and artistic practice, Candice is dedicated to fostering spaces that honour Noongar heritage while pushing the boundaries of contemporary First Nations art.
NYUNGAR WELCOME TO COUNTRY
DR LEN COLLARD
Dr Len Collard is a Whadjuk Nyungar Boordiya from the Perth or Boorloo metropolitan area.
Len is a Doctor of Education Honors Causa at Edith Cowan University and Emeritus Professor at the University of Western Australia in the School of Indigenous Studies and is recognised on the global stage for his ground-breaking contribution to cultural heritage, Nyungar interpretive histories and Nyungar theoretical and practical research models.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Michelle Broun
Michelle Broun is a proud Yindjibarndi woman living and working on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja. She is a curator, creative producer and cultural planner.
Michelle was lead curator of Ngalang Koort Boodja Wirn, (Our Heart, Country, Spirit) at WA Museum Boola Bardip from 2017-2020 and the inaugural Australian First Nations Curator at John Curtin Gallery from 2021-2023 curating several exhibitions including Carrolup Coolingah Wirn – The spirit of Carrolup children and Tracing the Art of a Stolen Generation – the child artists of Carrolup, which toured to Manchester and Glasgow in 2022. As an independent curator in 2024, she curated Wadjemup Wirin Bidi (Rottnest Island Spiritual Journey) Exhibition at the Wadjemup Museum.
She graduated in February 2025 with a Masters of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University, specialising in Curating and Collections.
Michelle is currently a board member of Disability and the Arts (DADAA) and a member of the Indigenous Reference Group at the National Museum of Australia. She works in an editorial role with LaTrobe as a Research Fellow on the Ngura Ninti project. In 2023-24 Michelle worked with Ricky Arnold and Associates and ART ON THE MOVE which undertook a statewide survey to inform the new Regional Exhibition Touring Strategy.
REGISTER
This is a dedicated space for First People artists, curators and creative producers. If you wish to participate but haven’t received an invitation from us, please contact communications@artonthemove.art before completing the following form.
This form is currently closed. Please contact ART ON THE MOVE at communications@artonthemove.art if you wish to join the session.PROGRAM CONTACT
To find out more about Maya karni waangkarangkar – the straight talkers, please contact us at communications@artonthemove.art or 08 9271 3902.
This project is made possible through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost with funding managed by Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport and from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and delivered by ART ON THE MOVE.
