Installation image of Native Hands: Blak Dot Gallery (Stand A2), curated by Kimba Thompson, Melbourne Art Fair, 2-5 August 2018, showing work by (from left to right) Frances Tapueluelu, Lisa Hilli, Dr Vicki Couzens, Gina Bundle, Kirsten Lyttle. Image Credit: Kimba Thompson.

Kirsten Lyttle, artwork shown:

Series tile: Tangata Whenua/Not Tangata Whenua (2018),

In Te Reo Māori (the Māori language), tangata whenua, describes the local indigenous people born of the land (of the placenta of the land). My ancestral homeland, where I am tangata whenua, is Aotearoa (New Zealand). As a Māori-Australian artist I am part of a diaspora; separated from the land of my ancestors by ocean.

The traditional custodians of the land on which I live are the Wurundjeri people of the greater Kulin Nation. I live, work and make beside Merri Creek in Northcote, a site of significance for the Wurundjeri. 

This series of handwoven and photographic prints attempts to respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri people, the beauty of this place, and the knowledge that I am not tangata whenua here.

Kirsten Lyttle 2018

This series has been shown as part of Native Hands, presented by Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair 2018 and Octopus 18: Mother Tongue (curated by Kimberley Moulton), Gertrude Contemporary, 2018.