In conjunction with her Sitting Down Place exhibition currently on at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, Kyra Mancktelow undertook an artist in residency to develop an artwork for the Bundaberg Regional Galleries’ collection.
Kyra spent a week in the region, yarning with Traditional Owners and hearing their stories. The time she spent on country will inspire her new artworks reflecting the region’s history.
Having grown up spending time in the region visiting her family, Kyra said this trip had given her a different perspective.
“Growing up I always came here to visit my aunty and my family, but this has given me a different perspective after being shown around by the Traditional Owners and yarning with the community,” Kyra said.
“I yarned with a few different mobs to learn about their Indigenous heritage while in the region.”
“I will definitely incorporate those stories and really talk about this history to form a documentation of the Indigenous and the South Sea Islander people in Bundaberg in my piece.”
Kyra said the opportunity to meet and talk to many different people gave her the chance to connect with both the people and the places they were talking about.
“You meet the people and then you hear their stories of the place and feel that real sense of history,” she said.
“It is so exciting to create a work that is about the region, will be kept in the region and for the story to be told here is great and as an artist there is nothing more amazing than your work to be seen and told.”
“All my work is about recognising history, drawing this from the Indigenous side or the South Sea Islander side, it will all be about uncovering history and bringing that to light for people to see,” she said.
As a Quandamooka woman with links to Mardigan of Connamulla and Vanuatu, South Sea Islander people, heritage and family are central to Kyra’s practice.
Printmaking is a prominent method used in her creative practice through which she likes to explore her cultural history, traditions, and identity.
Kyra is currently studying a Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (Honours) at Queensland College of Art.
This Artist in Residency was made possible through the Regional Arts Development Fund.
You can visit her exhibition at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery until 7 November 2021.
Find out more about what’s happening at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery here.
