Exhibitions

Biography

Auntie maikutena Vicki-Laine Green is an artist who specialises in traditional arts, such as shell necklace making, which has been passed on to her via her older sister Bernice Condie – who was also a recognised and acclaimed traditional necklace maker, basket weaving and kelp artist. In addition, maikutena tells stories of her Ancestors, family and Creation stories through quilting.

Artist statement

Reviving Culture into the Future, 2022

In this section of our exhibit we focus on our continued Cultural strength which has survived through war, death, loss of Country, incarceration within a Reserve, and forced religion; followed by the closing of the Reserve and dispersal throughout the State of Tasmania including Flinders Island, and Victoria.

Despite the inhumane treatment of the inmates in the Cape Barren Island Reserve and then the transportation to other places –Tasmanian mainland and Flinders Island – the ex-inmates were expected to settle and act like good little white people and attend church, whilst being discriminated against in relation to accommodation, housing, schooling, employment, imprisonment, etc.

Despite the laws and policies supporting ill-treatment and racism toward our people we survived, developed, and our numbers grew.  Our men found work, our women worked at anything they could find, and our children went to school and received an education. Life began to be slightly tolerable.

Our men and women began to control their lives, making decisions to ensure that the existence of their children began to improve to the point that families, individuals and communities commenced buying property, finishing school, being successful at university, being employed in jobs where they could develop processes and positions of power in relation to Aboriginal policies, etc.

Most importantly, several Aboriginal organisations were developed. Finally Aboriginal people could receive services from their own People or those who were supportive of Aboriginal advancement in legal, political, social, and medical services being managed and serviced by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people

At this stage, many of our people began strongly reconnecting with their ancient crafts, arts, artefacts and Ceremony which were essential to their identity and also for social and economic growth within families and communities.

In this exhibition there are many palawa/pakana artefacts which are ‘on loan’ from multiple institutions - including the British Museum, that continues to claim our cultural material is under the ownership of the British Government. In current times, we focus on retrieving our Ancestors’ remains, and our cultural and economic artefacts from international and national museums and private collections.

It is time the skeletal remains and cultural objects of our Old People were released from those cold Museums and returned to their Sacred Country under the care of the current and future palawa/pakana People of Tasmania.

Strong Black Womin – Forever Culture, 2022

Despite the incredibly inhumane actions towards and treatment of the palawa/pakana – the First Nation Peoples of lutruwita (Tasmania), our Mob have survived generation after generation, and continue to grow stronger as time goes on.

The story we grew up with was that we didn’t exist – that we and families no longer existed.  Of course, that also encompassed the fallacy that there were no longer any continuing histories of our Cultural activities.

The exhibit we present today clearly demonstrates that we are a continuation of our Ancestors – 30,000+ years, including our ancient history, stories, families and Culture.

The stories presented for you represent the survival of an ancient People. Stories passed on, dance continued around camp-fires, tools to gather food and protect ourselves and family, changes and evolution of Ceremony, Dance and Story, ways of living whilst protecting our Country, evolution in ways of living to survive within an alien people from Britain.

We have struggled to be recognised and acknowledged as the continuing First Nation Peoples of this Ancient and Sacred Country, now known as Tasmania. We continue our Cultural activities, the foods our Old People ate, our Sacred historic Yarns from Old Times, etc, without ever retreating from our Sacredness as the First People of this ancient land.

Our exhibition clearly and strongly demonstrates that we have survived and remain strong in family, Culture, story – these aspects make us the strong People we are today.

<- Back to Artists