Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return)

08/27/2025 10:00 am 09/1/2025 05:00 pm Australia/Melbourne Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return)

Join us for the opening of Kirrakee Watson's PhD exhibition, Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return) at MADA Gallery on Thursday 28th August 5-7pm,

Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return), brings together the key works of Watson's practice-led PhD through three interconnected strands: the memorial garden at Tangulan, where they transform a site of colonial violence into a place of Aboriginal story, memory, and ecological resurgence; their counter-mapping practice, where they resist settler cartographies by reasserting storied, sovereign relationships to Country; and their work in Redfern, where they challenge gentrification and architectural erasure by centring oral histories, Aboriginal law, and community authority. Through these works, they embody a methodology of storywork, drawing, and Aboriginal autoethnography, offering a model for decolonial design grounded in law, memory, and relational care for Country.

Event Details

Date:
27 August 2025 at 10:00 am – 1 September 2025 at 5:00 pm

Description

Join us for the opening of Kirrakee Watson's PhD exhibition, Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return) at MADA Gallery on Thursday 28th August 5-7pm,

Thina (Retrace), Tropa (Repair), Wila (Return), brings together the key works of Watson's practice-led PhD through three interconnected strands: the memorial garden at Tangulan, where they transform a site of colonial violence into a place of Aboriginal story, memory, and ecological resurgence; their counter-mapping practice, where they resist settler cartographies by reasserting storied, sovereign relationships to Country; and their work in Redfern, where they challenge gentrification and architectural erasure by centring oral histories, Aboriginal law, and community authority. Through these works, they embody a methodology of storywork, drawing, and Aboriginal autoethnography, offering a model for decolonial design grounded in law, memory, and relational care for Country.