First ‘survival memorial’ for reconciliation announced by Inner West Council
Image: Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne announced on his Facebook that the first of three memorials will be created by two First Nations artists. Photo: Facebook
By AMBER GRIFFIN
The first of the three First Nations Survival Memorials has been commissioned by the Inner West to be erected in Ashfield at Yeo Park. The memorial will be created by artists Nicole Monks of Yamaji Wajarri and Maddison Gibbs of Barkindji.
In early May, the Inner West Council unanimously voted to put a draft Reconciliation Action Plan up for public exhibition. The Reconciliation Action Plan includes various projects designed to help Aboriginal communities within the Inner West area, and initiate progress for reconciliation.
An initiative included in the Reconciliation Action Plan is the creation of three ‘survival memorials’, with an estimated $600,000 allocated for development.
Nicole is a multi-award-winning artist and has won creative awards such as UNSW Art & Design Indigenous Professional Development Award, Arts NSW Aboriginal Design Grant, Vivid Design Competition (Furniture), Sydney Design Award (Textile and Surface Design) and was a finalist for the 2020 Lake Art Prize.
Maddison is a young creative who has recently become a recipient of the ‘Yapang Emerging Art Prize’, an acquisitive art prize developed to celebrate, promote and support emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the country.
Inner West Labor Councillor Darcy Byrne shared on Facebook that the survival memorial that Monks and Gibbs create will be a “tangible commitment to reconciliation and greater justice and recognition for Aboriginal people in our own back yard”.
The Reconciliation Action Plan will be on public exhibition for community comment for two more weeks. Have your say before June 22.
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