4 minute read
The Creative Type Meet the multi talented Alison Page, curator of the Aboriginal Culinary Journey.
Alison Page
A descendant of the Wadi Wadi and Walbanga people of the Yuin nation, Alison is a designer, filmmaker, academic and founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency. In collaboration with Breville, she has curated the Aboriginal Culinary Journey, a limited-edition range of kitchen appliances featuring artworks by four Indigenous artists, including remote-area painters.
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PHOTOGRAPHY Jem Cresswell | STYLING Sophie Wilson
I am from a family of six girls and we are all creative. As much as my father would have loved a sporty child, it wasn’t to be. But we all knew how to make our way from Redfern Oval to the Art Gallery of NSW. I began my career working in architecture, collaborating with Aboriginal communities to tell stories about the land and our culture that could be expressed in the built environment. Since then, I’ve worked in jewellery design, furniture design, interiors, public art and filmmaking, but it all comes back to collaboration and storytelling.
The seed for the collaboration with Breville
was planted 16 years ago when I was at a wedding and met Richard Hoare, the design and innovation director for Breville. We talked about the idea of appliances becoming ‘art objects’ by applying Aboriginal art and story to them. That simple conversation a long time ago has now evolved to a very deep and meaningful collaboration between an Australian design company and the world’s oldest living culture. Australian design is 65,000 years old and some of our oldest tools for living – like coolamons or digging sticks – are etched in story through markings and symbols. The stories are about caring for the land, sea and sky and these objects are our library of cultural and ecological knowledge.
This range with Breville is continuing that
tradition by creating objects that speak of sustainable grains, bush medicine, bush tucker and ceremony. It gives voice to Aboriginal artists to wrap their art on different design objects and tell our stories to a global audience.
Being First Nations-led is critical in a
project like this – and that’s what makes this collaboration so powerful. Breville is a global company that opened its doors to our culture and our way of working, which shows so much leadership on their part.
We started by developing a brief for the
artists, which was about connecting the function of the objects to a story. So, the toaster design was a story about ancient grains and bread-making, the juicer design speaks of bush medijina (medicine) and so on. We then needed to develop technical methods of capturing these custom artworks onto the objects and replicating them. The other critical part was making sure the intellectual property was gold standard, so we collaborated with Aboriginal lawyer Terri Janke to get the best deal for the artists.
Three of the artists who took part,
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Yukultji Napangati and Yalti Napangati are part of a group of people called the Pintupi Nine who walked out of the Gibson Desert in 1984 and saw white man for the first time. They’re from a community called Kiwirrkurra, Australia’s most remote community. They sing when they paint because it is all part of the songlines of their ancestors. The other artist, Lucy Simpson, is a Yuwaalaraay woman from western NSW, living in Sydney and she is at the forefront of Australian Aboriginal design.
When we took the finished pieces back out to
community, it was like the artists were being reunited with a family member. They squealed with excitement and were so proud.
I travel a lot for work and never really have
what you’d call an average day. It depends on whether I am making a film, a sculpture or designing with architects or urban planners. I am always storytelling and collaborating with community. What I love about my work is that I get to meet so many amazing people in communities all over Australia and I have made so many enduring friendships. Creatives I admire? American artist James Turrell – he creates contemporary sacred spaces using light as a medium. Australian filmmaker Lynette Wallworth for her creation of ritualistic experiences using VR. And Kimberley painter Mabel Juli for her paintings about forbidden love. I love 60s and retro interiors. My favourite design objects include my flokati rug, a 70s shag rug I’ve had for my whole adult life. Also my own designed coffee table, The Comeback Coffee Table, and the Artichoke light by Danish luminary Poul Henningsen. I’m currently reading the First Knowledges series by Thames and Hudson Australia. Being on Country is what inspires and nourishes my work. I love being immersed in nature, so places like the highlands of Tasmania or Arnhem Land are energising to me. I’m from the Aboriginal community of La Perouse in Sydney and it is my biggest inspiration. A lot of my work is about uncovering the beauty, history and deep cultural knowledge that is still there even though it’s also a thriving metropolis. #
100% of the profits from sales of the Aboriginal Culinary Journey range will be donated to Indigenous organisations. A supporting exhibition is on at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, until August 7.
OPPOSITE Alison Page at Breville’s headquarters with pieces from the Aboriginal Culinary Journey range. From left, Coffee machine artwork by Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri; toaster with artwork by Lucy Simpson; coffee machine painted by Yukultji Napangati and kettle with artwork by Yalti Napangati. For more, breville.com.au.
ALISON’S FAVOURITE THINGS Artichoke light by Poul Henningsen. The First Knowledges series of books (published by Thames and Hudson). Flokati rug. Art installation by James Turrell.
