Blacktown Arts has announced the launch of Terra inFirma, an exhibition and performance program that examines how the arrival of Captain Cook has impacted Dharug Peoples and communities from our Asia Pacific region, now living in Blacktown.

The exhibition will feature works from local Indigenous artists:

• Dharug-Dharawal artist Venessa Possum will present installation and video pieces that explore murura (pathways), and the importance of water as sustenance for generations of First Peoples;
• Judy Watson, whose mix of video and painted works will reflect on the atrocities and perpetrators of massacres from colonial Australian history;

The exhibition will also feature First Nations artists hailing from all around the globe, who now call Blacktown home:

• Teivao Pupu Tamariki depicts life before the forcible removable of Polynesians by colonial settlers, of navigation via bird migrations, star systems and ocean currents;
• Filipino artist Kristone Capistrano’s Kwentong Bangkero video work features Filipino fishermen (bangkeros) sharing their memories of the sea;
• Javanese artist Jumaadi’s will present paintings inspired by the ancient history of trade between Arabs, Chinese and Indians passing through Java;
• Shivanjani Lal uses burnt turmeric, a healing ritual passed down by Indian women, to reflect on the complexity of relationships to place, history and journeys;
• Pakistani painter Fozia Zahid will use the traditional Indian art-form of miniature paintings to tell the story of Hyder Ali and son Tipu Sultan, who died fighting in resistance to British occupation of India;

The first Terra inFirma exhibition runs at the Blacktown Arts Centre between 5 March and  23 May 2020.