Reclaiming the narrative through First Peoples' creative practice
School of the Arts & Media
With culture at its heart, First Peoples鈥 creative practice can transform communities, says Indigenous Scientia Fellow Dr Liza-Mare Syron.
A UNSW researcher is leveraging the transformative power of creative practice to help revitalise Indigenous languages through theatre.听
UNSW Indigenous Scientia Fellow and Birrbay woman Dr Liza-Mare Syron is co-founder and senior artistic associate of , based on Gadigal country in Redfern. She explores First Peoples performing arts training and practice as a means to engage with Indigenous culture.
Creative control is integral to reclaiming ownership of First Peoples (hi)stories and creating impact for First Peoples arts practitioners and communities, Dr Syron says. It promotes authentic rather than representative (tokenistic) notions of Indigeneity while still working within Western theatrical frameworks.
鈥淐ulture is at the heart of [Indigenous] creative practice,鈥 she says. 鈥淎t Moogahlin, we produce work 鈥 new work 鈥 and we always try and have an Indigenous creative lead as director, producer, designer, as a model. Even in partnerships with non-Indigenous companies.鈥
鈥淣othing about us, without us鈥, as she calls it, speaks to the need to emphasise and acknowledge 鈥渘otions of Indigenous agency, identity and subjectivity.鈥澛
Transformation through cultural arts
Dr Syron has personal ties to the Black Theatre, the Aboriginal-run company established in 1972 on Gadigal land in Redfern in response to the land rights movement. Like her uncle, actor, director, activist Brian Syron, Dr Syron leverages the transformative power of the creative arts.
鈥淐ulture is intrinsic to Aboriginal people鈥檚 lives and economic sustainability,鈥 Dr Syron says.
Cultural heritage is not just 鈥渟tones and bones鈥 (archaeological), it also encompasses cultural expression; there鈥檚 a strong connection between cultural heritage and聽performance practice, Dr Syron says.
鈥淎rt is intrinsic to who we are,鈥 says Murrawarri/Ngemba woman Lily Shearer, co-founder and co-artistic director of Moogahlin. 鈥淪torytelling is intrinsic to our being 鈥 our wellbeing 鈥 physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.鈥
Water Speaks, a creative collaboration between First Peoples theatre companies from Australia and Turtle Island (Canada) made its debut at r墨vus, the 23rd Biennale of Sydney.
Moogahlin Performing Arts and , based in Nipissing, developed the digital work through creative exchange with visual artsist Rea Saunders and Video composer Darrin Baker. It weaves stories of the mundaguddah, rainbow serpent in Murrawarri, and black sturgeon fish in Northern Cree, using Indigenous languages.
Dr Syron says creative collaborations like this are a major driver behind her research.
鈥淐onducting Indigenous research opens up opportunities for further [community] engagement and collaboration,鈥 the practice-led researcher says. 鈥淩esearch needs to very strongly have an engagement and impact outcome.
鈥淭he first question [needs to be]: how is my research relevant to community and the sector?鈥
The Calgoa River in NSW features in Water Speaks which celebrates relational identities and stories connected to country. Image: Darrin Baker.
Above and below: Water Speaks is a 3-channel visual and spoken word digital work responding to two cultural stories from Nipissing and Murrawarri peoples weaving language and story with images of country, land and water, where the cultural stories reside. Images: Darrin Baker.听
L-R Andrea James (Yorta Yorta playwright), Victor Rodger (Pacifica Playwright), Ryan Cunningham (former Artistic Director Native Earth Performing Arts Toronto), Hone Kouka and Miria George Co-founder Tawata Productions Wellington Aotearoa). Image: Supplied.
Respect and reciprocity
Respect for the diversity of First Peoples鈥 experiences, language and lore is fundamental to cultivating cross-cultural collaborations, she says.
Dr Syron travelled to Toronto and Wellington to observe rehearsal room processes of First Peoples companies in Turtle Island and Aotearoa (New Zealand) from 2014-2015 as part of her research. It took more than a year to build trust, respecting cultural protocols, before she was invited into some of these culturally sensitive spaces.
In return, Dr Syron invited the companies, and , to a panel discussion at on what it means to make Indigenous work in the twenty-first century.
Rather than 鈥渇ly-in, fly-out research鈥, it鈥檚 a continuing dialogue of knowledge exchange, she says. 鈥淗ow can we help each other? How can we learn from each other through this exchange, through these connections?鈥
Our stories with your people
The companies have partnered over the last six years to develop new First Peoples鈥 playwriting, initially supported by the Australia Council, Canada Council, and Creative New Zealand.
Translating work across First Nations鈥 cultures gives emerging playwrights international exposure and new insight into their work. Kuku Yalanji/Yidinji woman Henrietta Baird鈥檚 play聽The Weekend聽was developed through this model.
The Weekend聽was workshopped at Yellamundie Festival then presented at Weesageechak Begin to Dance Festival in Toronto in 2017. It had its world premiere at the 2019 Sydney Festival, and ran at BATS Theatre, Wellington for the Kia Mau Festival.
鈥We gave them the stories [to produce] on their country 鈥 our stories with your people 鈥 but because it鈥檚 your place, you need to have creative control over how it鈥檚 presented to local audiences,鈥 Dr Syron says.
鈥淔irst Nations, at least in Canada, have very similar experiences 鈥 of public housing tenement schools, of stolen children 鈥 so we were able to connect on those levels.鈥
Calgoa River where the Murrawarri story of the Mundagadda lives. Image: Darrin Baker.听
Raising up First Peoples鈥 voices in language
Water Speaks is聽presented in the native languages of the Murrawarri and Northern Cree.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really spiritually rewarding to be working in language again,鈥 Ms Shearer says. 鈥淲hilst we never spoke it fluently in my generation, listening to the children and the generations after us, it just brings tears to your eyes and goosebumps all over your body鈥
鈥淵ou understand then the relationship to country more, and to each other. And why country and language is so important.鈥
More than聽250 First Nations Australian languages,聽including 800 dialects, were spoken on the continent prior to European invasion, according to the聽.
鈥淭oday, approximately only 13 Indigenous Australian languages have enough young people speaking them to sustain the language into the future. It is a sobering thought,鈥 Dr Syron says.
Theatre plays an important role in the revitalisation of languages, she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a living history of one of the oldest cultures in the world. I want to know how we can respect that and how we can contribute to language revival, and in turn give back by working with language using best practice.鈥
Video:聽Creating impact by聽revitalising Indigenous languages
UNSW Indigenous Scientia Fellow and Birrbay woman聽Dr Liza-Mare Syron聽is leveraging the transformative power of creative practice to help revitalise Indigenous languages through theatre. Together with Lily Shearer, fellow co-founder of Moogahlin Performing Arts, Liza-Mare illustrates the impact of Water Speaks, a creative collaboration between First Peoples theatre companies from Australia and Turtle Island (Canada). For more information and credits on the work shown in this video, visit聽.听
Lead image:聽Moogahlin Performing Arts, Broken Glass, 2018. Key Artists: Lily Shearer, Liza-Mare Syron, Katie Leslie, Andrea James, Aroha Groves, Brenda Gifford, Nancia Guiveria. Produced in association with Blacktown Arts Centre for Sydney Festival. Image: Joshua Morris.听
This article was originally published in 2022.
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