Making First Nations knowledge visible🔗

For many First Nations community members, Queensland State Archives had felt institutional, stark and unwelcoming. It’s also home to details of family and community trauma from across the continent. The Seeds of Knowledge public art project was realised to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people to see themselves reflected in this facility, celebrating and bringing to the surface the concept that Indigenous knowledges transcend walls, borders and the written word.

Seeds of Knowledge consists of three main elements: a large mural of native trees, plants, and totemic animals such as the sand goanna and the carpet snake which are significant to the Yagara people; five cast-bronze gumnut sculptures featuring collaborative designs; and six blackwood timber bench seats with carved artworks. Together, the works reflect the idea that knowledge is living, growing and evolving through the interplay of past, present and future.

Country as a living archive 🔗

Blaklash worked with artists Tamika Grant-Iramu (Torres Strait) and Nathaniel Chapman (Goenpul/Yuggera/Wambia) and Yagara Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton to championYagara knowledges and stories of place throughout the project. Nestled within bushland in Runcorn, Gaja Kerry led the discussion around bringing the comforting nature of the surrounding Country into the works themselves. Inspired by the layered stories and significance of native seed pods, the artworks are a visual manifestation of knowledge passed down through generations about the natural world, with the pods representing vessels of wisdom and transformation.

The project also explores the idea of an ‘alternative archive’, challenging the view that knowledge is held only in written records or formal repositories. Instead, Seeds of Knowledge invites viewers to consider knowledge as something living and relational, woven through Country and cultural practice and carried forward over time.

From insight to impact🔗

In 2022, Blaklash conducted a cultural audit on the Queensland State Archives which revealed First Nations community members did not feel visible or welcome at an institution they viewed as stark.

That audit created the opportunity for a considered public art response that brought First Nations culture and presence to the facility’s entry, while also creating outdoor spaces where community members could step away and decompress during visits to the archive, particularly after engaging with confronting historical records.

The project also created direct economic and professional opportunities for First Nations participants, including for Yagara Elder Gaja Kerry Charlton and emerging artist Nathaniel Chapman, for whom Seeds of Knowledge included his first collaborative sculptural works. Blaklash, alongside local Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri artist Sam Harrison, also supported Nathaniel to develop mural-painting skills, building his capacity to independently deliver similar projects in future.