Wed 11 Sep, 9:30am–4:00pm
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
Teachers: $180
Teachers Members: $150

Focus on First Nations is a full-day Professional Learning program for teachers that connects historic and contemporary First Nations art and design with classroom teaching and learning. Explore key works in the NGV Collection with an NGV Curator and hear from multidisciplinary artist Jenna Lee about her inspiration and practice. Join NGV educators on the gallery floor to practice using art as a starting point to introduce and explore First Nations perspectives in your classroom. The day will conclude with a presentation by artist and academic Tiriki Onus about respectful approaches to engaging with First Nations perspectives and an opportunity for reflection.

This program takes place in The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia’s dedicated display of First Nations art, Wurrdha Marra —meaning ‘Many Mobs’ in the Woi Wurrung language. The display offers a meeting point between contemporary and traditional practices and art forms, challenging preconceptions about First Nations art and design in Australia.

Please note: this event is catered. Please indicate any dietary requirements when booking.

Learning Objectives

• Develop an awareness of the diversity of practices in First Nations art and design.
• Build confidence in exploring First Nations art, culture and history in the classroom.
• Identify and describe connections between your student’s world and the themes, concepts and ideas in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.
• Design culturally sensitive activities that connect your students to the work of First Nations artists and designers.

AITSL Standards

• 2.1. Apply knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities.
• 2.4 Demonstrate broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages.
• 6.2 Participate in learning to update knowledge and practice, targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities.
• 6.4 Undertake professional learning programs designed to address identified student learning needs.

About the Artists

Tiriki Onus is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung man and Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, University of Melbourne. He is an artist, curator, academic, filmmaker and opera singer who, through the grace and generosity of local elders and community, continues to practice his art and culture on the lands of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri peoples.

Jenna Lee is a Gulumerridjin (Larrakia), Wardaman and KarraJarri Saltwater woman with mixed Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Anglo-Australian ancestry. Driven to create work in which she, her family, and the broader mixed First Nations community see themselves represented, Lee builds on a foundation of her father’s teachings of culture and her mother’s teachings of paper craft. Working primarily in installation Lee creates objects, works on paper, photography, video, projection and sound.