Caracaramigen
NAIDOC 2023 Group Exhibition
About the Exhibition:
“Caracaramigen In the Skies 2023 ‘takeover’ felt like the dream or vision come true this year. The space was transformed by the brave and ambitious (visionary) curatorial/aesthetic genius of Ebony Hickey. It brought together work by local artists and makers Gerard Black, Ange Jeffery, Jay Hickey, Mark Ferrari, Nikki Whitfeild, Amanda Stanley, Ebony Hickey and children from the community. Their work was exhibited amongst a retail space dedicated to First Nations musicians, authors and creatives from the broader community and beyond.
Since opening in 2020 In the Skies has held a NAIDOC exhibition each year. The first was dedicated to the poem ‘Gunditj Lorne’ by Yangamatta John Clarke. This poem won the 2021 Christos Poetry Prize and as way to further engage the Lorne community in its meaning, we replicated a giant version of the poem onto the gallery wall and invited people to sit and engage (where possible amidst COVID lockdowns). With permission from its author, special printed versions of the poem were distributed to the community in exchange for a donation to Caracaramigen. Due to the socially distanced context of this time, a digital version of the poem was also created to engage people , using photographs taken by the Lorne community. This project was facilitated online via the infamous local community Facebook page - which is followed by over 10,000 people.
The following year, out of lockdown we were honoured to host locally based and raised Worimi artist Gerard Black’s debut solo exhibition ‘Yuwutung’ (Journey). Gerard Black was introduced to us by Ebony Hickey and the exhibition included a joyous in person opening and NAIDOC community gathering hosted by Caracaramigen. Gerard Black’s exhibition was extremely well received and very near sold out.
Which brings us to this years ‘takeover’. The unjust irony of First Nations ‘takeovers’ on their own land is not lost on us. So to say it felt like a dream or vision come true, is to say it for two reasons: one, we know Caracaramigen is in the process of trying to secure a permanent space in Colac - a space that would include a gallery and retail shop very similar to the one created at In the Skies this year - and so in this sense the takeover was like a prototype of a literal dream and vision. The second reason is because the point of creating In the Skies in the first place was fundamentally to attempt to hold space (and literally get a hold of / occupy space in Lorne) for local decolonisation projects, and to operate in a way that respects First Nations sovereignty and struggles for rights, justice and self determination. This year’s Caracaramigen takeover was a glimpse of this somewhat abstract/theoretical dream and vision actually being enacted. However it is certainly the tip of the iceberg - skies are the limit (pun intended) - an we cannot wait to see where these collaborations with Caracaramigen take us.”
Anna McIldowie, founder of In the Skies Art & Music, November 2023
View the Caracaramigen Catalogue here (please note, sales from this catalogue have now closed)
For available works by the artists please contact them directly:
