Form and translation

 

Regional // Regional set out to be a different kind of conference. Yet unlike other events who self-consciously claim to be different, R//R gently unfolded into something completely unique to the attending participants. Without relying on the diversity of people and perspectives within the group to drive inherently diverse content, the schedule across the week included different platforms for conversations to take place. Between discussion panels or artist-led sessions, participants walked and swam on Country, learned about fire practices, made art or simply sat, shared stories and meditated. Moving between embodied and esoteric forms across the week gave participants the chance to digest information from sessions during a walk or swim, to break out into small groups in another activity, or to see from another perspective in an artist-led session. 

Just as important as the variety of activities was the time in which to do them. Taking time and going slower. This precedent was set at the very beginning when Dewayne Everettsmith, a Palawa man, invited participants into a healing circle at the Welcome to Country. While linking arms around the campfire, the topic of presence and time prompted everybody to consider the contribution First Peoples have made to land, and settler presence on Lutruwita. How insignificant we are in the context of 65,000 years of culture, but how precious this makes the present moment. Zooming out in appreciation, to zoom back in again to the here and now. 

‘Creating this elasticity of structural form in sessions meant that nobody was stuck in their heads for the entire week. Each day or session began with a version of grounding to the physical space and reconnecting with the body.’ 

Creating this elasticity of structural form in sessions meant that nobody was stuck in their heads for the entire week. Each day or session began with a version of grounding to the physical space and reconnecting with the body. This gentle repetition encouraged all to come with a beginner’s mind, renewed perspective and understand that this is an ongoing practice, rather than something that can be done in one hit. It’s the sense that you can never step into the same river twice. The program scheduled deep discussions alongside embodied movement, so participants had the opportunity to be much more than a head with legs, as everybody experienced in artist-led sessions run by Selena de Carvalho and Second Echo Ensemble. 

In spite of all attempts to the contrary, through my perspective as an observer of the group, taking notes on both the conversations and the format of Regional // Regional, I noticed quieter people whose thoughts on the week’s topics were yet to be heard or felt deeply. Attempts to involve everybody are just that: attempts. Movement practices can resonate with some and not others, and that even with the generosity of time, some people still take longer to open up. I observed and was impressed by the sense of autonomy and self-responsibility that the participants had within sessions. I thought it spoke well of the group and their mutual respect for one another, that they were by and large engaged throughout the entire week. 

These grey areas of inclusivity emerged in a session led by Ruth Langford, of Nayri Niara, called ‘How do we consider reciprocity when inviting First Nations leaders from Australia and the Asia Pacific?’. First Peoples were invited to speak first and gradually began to raise their voices. Indigenous folks are often called upon to share lived experience in order to educate their peers and it can be exhausting; I noticed a slight reluctance in spite of the community-building that had framed the week so far. The tin sheds of Spring Bay Mill rattled with a gust of wind, and a hush fell across the group. All actively listened, yet I could sense an edge within the silence with anxious undertones from the non-Indigenous group members 'But what can we do? How do we program? What next?'. 

 

Regional // Regional member and Nayri Niara founder Ruth Langford (left) curated and led the On Country program of the Gathering. To her right is First Nations artist Janice Ross who facilitated a charcoal drawing session with the R // R members. 

In this moment the group settled into discomfort. There is a tendency, even among the well-meaning, to follow an impulse to make noise. For allies to either need comforting or reassurance that they’re doing things the right way. It was encouraging to see the group simply allow themselves to consider how their biases might be deeper than they realise, knowing it will take time to build relationships, to subvert their ways of thinking and let go of their inherent ‘top down’ approaches. As Jules Caburian said later in the conference 'To build relationships and respect without agenda is the first step towards creative collaborations. Give agency back to people, so they can decide if they want to collaborate.' 

During Thursday morning’s session led by Jude Anderson and Sarah Parsons, the group’s heightened awareness of these challenges becomes spiky, with some group members hastily trying to work out solutions in the here and now. Later during the group session one member cuts off another. The energy shifts palpably as everybody ponders how to negotiate the infraction. Luckily, the shared vision for the week is to be uncomfortable in the name of change. Being responsible and accountable. It’s now that the spaghetti workshop Second Echo Ensemble led the group through comes into practice: everybody’s energy and opinions move around the circle, nobody wants it to break, but if it does, it’s just spaghetti. What would happen if we named things in the moment, like 'you cut her off and that doesn’t make us feel warm towards you' or 'you’re not listening, you’re just waiting for your moment to talk'? 

Yet because of the dynamic that has been built over days and different formats as part of this gathering, this group has a kinship that can handle murky areas. It has a pliability; it can stretch to incorporate the parts that require more learning or revision of old patterns. Being direct about what is happening, where something has gotten stuck. Just helps people to move on and move on together. As Masoom Parmar reflected in the closing circle, '[We need to be] open to collaboration, with no fear to fail or make mistakes. Be open to learning and redoing things'. 

Regional // Regional members Alex Wisser (Artistic Director of Cementa, Kandos NSW) and Masoom Parmar (Founder of Alif Arts, Bengaluru India) during the Open Conversation Session with the Tasmanian Arts sector 

As the week comes to a close, there’s a tacit understanding that this is just the beginning. Like a tree planting exercise that the group did earlier in the week, it has merely planted the seed for change, and nobody expects to emerge completely transformed. Aan from Makassar International Writers Festival in Indonesiaputs it well: 'We have to arrive first, before we go'. Likewise, says Makoto Kuzuya of Sanriku International Arts Festival, Japan, who is naturally an observer of his environment, and watched a flower nearby him gradually grow. In a moment of insight, he realised 'The flower is me, and I am the flower.' The idea behind what Makoto said is 'Shu-kyaku-Go-Itsu (主客合一)' (subjectivity-objectivity-intergrated-as one), and he felt that 'listening to the land', the phrase we heard so many times from Ruth and the people of Palawa, had something in common. By listening to the land, one can listen to yourself; there is no separation or boundaries between the land and yourself. 

Moving between different spaces–indoor/outdoor at the Mill, then between conference rooms and performance space at the Theatre Royal–helped conversations flow across the week too. Things settle in the past when you physically move away from them. The question is: how is this implemented beyond the conference week? David Nalo of Lokol Eyes Vanuatu says, 'we have to be comfortable enough just to start'. 

Regional // Regional is an initiative of Asialink Arts at the University of Melbourne and is supported by major partners. The Yulgilbar Foundation, Circle 5, and Konfir Kabo and Monica Lim. The Regional // Regional Tasmanian Gathering has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria. With thanks to venue partner Theatre Royal Hedberg. 

 

 

 

Susie Anderson is a writer of poetry and nonfiction whose work reflects on the hidden layers of culture, memory and place. She is a proud Wergaia & Wemba Wemba woman from Western Victoria whose poetry and non-fiction writing has been published in a variety of publications in Australia and abroad, including Meanjin, Rabbit Poetry Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Suburban Review, Portside Review, Archer Magazine and more. She has also written extensively about visual art from a First Nations lens for galleries such as National Gallery of Victoria and publications like un Magazine, Artist Profile, Artlink and Art Monthly. Her debut collection of poetry, the body country, was published in 2023 and shortlisted for the Victorian and NSW Premier's Literary Awards. 

https://www.susan.fyi/ 

All photos by Jillian Mundy, https://www.jillianmundy.com.au/ 

Video by Troy Melville, https://troymelville.com.au/