RISING MELBOURNE ART TRAMS 2023

Rising Melbourne Art trams Launching now.

more info here

 2023 Theme “Blak Futurism“

Curatorial statement:

‘Blak Futurism’ is the theme for the 2023 Melbourne Art Trams, curated by Boon Wurrung/Wemba Wemba artist and curator, Jarra Karalinar Steel.

The future holds a world of possibilities. But our capacity to imagine and create these realities has been impacted by colonisation.

The theme Blak Futurism asks you to envision better futures for Australian First Peoples.

How do we reclaim space? How can we own our future? How do you envision a Blak tomorrow?

To build a Blak future we need to look our past and present in the eye; listen to our leaders, heroes, Elders; explore our culture, arts, knowledge, identity; and connect with place and the care for country.

A Blak future requires breaking free of the status quo and disconnecting from expectations. Can you imagine a future you have only dared to dream?

We acknowledge the term ‘Blak’ was coined by Destiny Deacon for the 1994 collaborative First Nations group exhibition, Blakness: Blak City Culture! featuring the work of Destiny Deacon. Curators of the exhibition Clare Williamson and Hetti Perkins described Destiny Deacon’s development of the term ‘Blak’ as “part of a symbolic, but potent strategy of reclaiming colonialist language to create means of self-definition and expression”.

2023 Artists

Amina Briggs (Boonwurrung / Erub / Ugar)

Charlotte Allingham (Wiradjuri / Ngiyampaa)

Coree (Yorta Yorta / Wurundjeri / Gunnai /Gunditjmara) and Lyn Thorpe (Yorta Yorta / Wurundjeri / Wemba Wamba / Wadi Wadi)

Jay Van Nus (Pibelmun Noongar)

Peter Waples-Crowe (Ngarigu)

Rubii Red (Lama Lama)

Images of 2023 coming soon.