Deep Listening

Deep Listening

Deep Listening is a First Nations-led exploration of the stories of Ballarat both old and new, asking the question ‘whose heritage is it?’

Supported by Perridak Arts, the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative and Wadawurrung Corporation, lead artist and Traditional Custodian Jenna Oldaker absorbed and documented stories, knowledge and experience of Ballarat’s Aboriginal community. Jenna built safe spaces for varied groups to gather and share in a uniquely collaborative creative process.

Deep Listening is complex. It requires confidence from all participants. It needs open communication. It demands respect.

Jenna worked to six themes of HEALING, HEART, HISTORY, STORY, SONG and SPIRIT. Through a series of workshops, community members detailed their perspectives and life experiences of living on Wadawurrung Country, today, yesterday and tomorrow.

Every participant had a chance to review the creative works, to comment and make changes. The artist shared their creative process as much as the storytellers shared their histories. Jenna has provided detailed descriptions of the stories behind the each of the artworks.

The six major installation works now form a central part of the Craft Lab activation, making six ‘rooms’ within the historic Mining Exchange. Each of these rooms house a curated exhibition of contemporary craft of the region - but in order to enter the rooms where contemporary stories are told, you must first walk through the stories of those whose land we stand upon.

We all must first accept that we are wrapped in the stories and histories of those whose history comes before our own.

This project was funded through Festivals Australia grant fund of the Australian Government