COVID ON COUNTRY Coronavirus has left an economic, social and emotional impact on vulnerable Indigenous communities and their arts centres

Covid on Country

Coronavirus has left an economic, social and emotional impact on vulnerable Indigenous communities and their arts centres, writes Kelli Cole.

Left to right: Cynthia Nyungalya Burke and Dianne Ungukalpi Golding making wana dancing (stick) for Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters) Sculptures, 2020 Opposite: Yvonne Lewis, Nancy Young and Linda Eddy from Irrunytju (WA) with their sculptures, 2017

In mid-March, three weeks into working on a commission for the National Gallery, the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council (NPYWC) in remote Western Australia announced they had stopped travel for all non-essential services staff to remote communities due to the threat of COVID-19. “We are extremely worried about our senior members of the community and their susceptibility to the virus. They are our anchors and caretakers of this ancient culture,” an NPYWC statement read.

The next day my time on community abruptly ended and, with a heavy heart, I packed my bags and returned to Canberra. I had been in Warakurna, WA, working with the Tjanpi Desert Weavers, an Indigenousgoverned and directed social enterprise of the NPYWC. The National Gallery commissioned the Tjanpi Desert Weavers to create an ambitious collaborative installation, Kungkarangkalpa (Seven Sisters), as part of the Know My Name initiative to showcase Australian women artists.

I worked side by side with the Tjanpi women as they worked on the sculptures, pulling on the weave, learning, laughing, speaking in their language of Ngaanyatjarra. I grew up in Alice Springs and had heard enough of the language that I could pick out fragments of what they were saying; the words of the women rolled out like a beautiful song. The pandemic restrictions did not stop the Tjanpi workshops. The artists continued to stay safe and completed the commission in my absence.

In late March, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, declared that Aboriginal Australians were particularly vulnerable to coronavirus due to higher rates of other health issues in the communities. The national, State and Territory Governments worked together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to put in place several measures to support communities during the pandemic.

However living in a COVID-19 world, while essentially trying to survive and live on Country, has proven difficult for many Indigenous people in regional and remote communities.

Aboriginal-run Art Centres are the centre of community life and provide employment, education, cultural and language preservation, economic development, health benefits and community cohesion. Across Australia art centres are now feeling the impact of having to close their doors because of the pandemic. Despite lockdown restrictions now gradually being lifted, what will come in the following months is economic difficulties, not only for individual artists but for their communities as well.

The Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land – one of the most prosperous community-controlled art centres in the Northern Territory – is estimated to lose close to $1 million in revenue due to the closure. This will not only affect the artists, but their families and the wider community.

Due to restrictions of movement it has also been hard for many artists to continue their practice. “We usually go out on Country to collect materials, especially with old ladies when they want to go out and collect bush dye. We take them out, we harvest bark. At the moment we haven’t been going out because we have the police roadblocks and we have to stay in our own communities, so we can’t go out to the ochre,” says Michelle Woody, Tiwi artist who works at the Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association in the Milikapiticommunity in the Tiwi Islands.

To protect the Anangu people, the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia shut down their communities and restricted entry. Anangu people were also directed not to practice inma (cultural song and dance), due to social distancing restrictions, but they continue to have access and connections to their land whilst teaching the younger generation about their culture and enduring belonging to Country.

APY Arts Centre Collective (APYACC) member Sally Scales described Covid-19 as an “absolutely terrifying experience for Anangu”.

“Social distancing, maintaining best practice hygiene, eating well – we don’t have that privilege,” said Sally. “Anangu families often have over 15 family members from four generations living in their two-bedroom house, our stores are so expensive and there is so much more soft drink than fresh food, there’s hardly any fresh or healthy food at all. We have been so full of anxiety hoping that COVID-19 doesn’t make it to APY.”

APYACC Director Nyunmiti Burton concurred: “Coronavirus has made one thing clear – the health of Aboriginal people is very different to Non-Indigenous people in Australia. We have been very worried. We don’t have the equipment [or] staff needed to deal with a big problem and we have so many big health problems every year on the Lands. People talk about ‘Closing the Gap’ – Coronavirus has shown us exactly how big the gap is.”

On a positive side to the COVID-19 lockdown, some artists took advantage of empty arts centres and produced new paintings while in isolation, while others returned to their traditional homelands where they continued to practice culture on Country.

The Tjanpi women used the closure to complete their sculptures for the National Gallery commission, which will go on display in the coming months. The Tjanpi Desert Weavers’ model of practice differs from that of other art centre models predominant across remote Australia - from its initial setup, the philosophy of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers was for the artists to work from home and in their communities. This meant while most art centres closed throughout Australia, the Tjanpi artists continued to work from home, giving them the ability to support their families and ultimately benefit the whole community. During the crisis, the Tjanpi model was tested and proven to be a successful model for artists and their communities. ■

The Tjanpi Desert Weavers commission, supported by Wesfarmers Arts, will be exhibited at the National Gallery at a later date. For more information on the Know My Name initiative, visit: nga.gov.au/exhibitions/knowmyname

 Kelli Cole is Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Cynthia Burke with her dog Tiny from Warakurna (WA) collecting Minarri grass, 2017 Opposite: Elizabeth Dunn, from Ernabella Arts, SA, painting during the lockdown