Katelyn Whitehurst - Curator

Bunbury Regional Art Gallery is situated in Goomburrup on Wardandi Noongar Boodja. Goomburrup is defined by its waterways and oceans, whose shores contain important places of meeting, food, and new life. Noongar Country is an annual exhibition that celebrates Culture by showcasing artwork made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists living on Noongar Boodja - spanning from Geraldton to Esperance and encompassing 14 different dialects. This landmark exhibition is ostensibly the largest and longest running of contemporary art by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists in regional Western Australia. As the curator of the 2023 exhibition, I waangkiny artists to depict and create objects that reflect the matriarchs of our communities -The holders of knowledge. Those who are quiet, yet powerful. Those in our families who we look to for guidance and strength. The makers of the best warm cuppa, who serve it with a cheeky laugh, and the biggest smile.

Based on this year’s NAIDOC theme, For Our Elders, Noongar Country 2023 encapsulates moort in its highest regard.

Noongar Country has always played a special role in my life as a young yorga, practicing artist and community member.

My Nan and Mum would bring me to the exhibition, and I would marvel at the colours and stories that hung on the wall. We would spend hours talking about our favourite artworks and how they might have been created; we were living in the magic of art and the stories the artworks hold.

It is an honour and a privilege to work with the artists to compile the individual artworks that have been submitted this year and tell a larger story about the relationships we have with our Elders and Boodja. I believe that sharing our stories within our community can bring down barriers and empower/heal our koort.

As part of this year’s Noongar Country, I have made an intervention in the gallery’s space I am calling Nanna’s

Living Room. The space is intended to challenge audiences to consider the kinds of spaces where we experience art and as an ode to contemporary yarning. For many, the living room is a space that, in many moort, nurtures the next generation’s growth. Through the creation of Nanna’s Living Room, it is my curatorial intention for this exhibition to be a space that all mob can relate to when considering their Elders. Most importantly, it is my hope Nanna’s Living Room is a safe space for everyone to comfortably yarn. So, I invite you all, artists and the general public alike, to sit, yarn, and have a cuppa in this space. Sit and take a moment to reflect upon the stories of Noongar Country. Enjoy a cuppa, as if you were at your Nanna’s house.

I thank all the exhibiting artists for sharing their stories of their moort. It’s been a privilege to waangkiny and kadjininy with all of you. I especially want to acknowledge my own Elders, for all their incredible hard work and perseverance,

COUNTRY’23 For Our Elders

as well as the empowerment they all have instilled within me. For this I say, thank you. I also want to thank you for visiting Noongar Country 2023: For Our Elders and listening to the stories of Boodja.

Katelyn Whitehurst is a Noongar Woman living on Wardandi Boodja.

Language taken from My Nan, Rose Whitehurst’s, Noongar Dictionary Second Addition.

Must Learn Words

Goomburrup - Bunbury

Wardandi - Saltwater People

Moort - Family

Boodja - Country/Land

Waangkiny - Asked/Talk

Yorga - Girl/woman

Koort - Hearts

Kadjininy - Hearing