Magic on Larrakia Country
There is something special about this week in the calendar each year.
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) brings our mob together from all over the country, artists, art workers, curators, families and communities, each arriving with their own stories, practices and ways of seeing. For a few days on Larrakia Country, you are surrounded by the incredible breadth of what our people are making, thinking about and carrying forward.
This year, it was just Tahnee Day and I representing Kaiela Arts in Darwin. While our works were presented through our online DAAF booth, being there in person offered something equally important: time to connect, observe, yarn, celebrate and be inspired by what is happening across our sector.
One of the most rewarding parts of the week for me was simply watching Tahnee light up. Seeing another artist encounter new work, meet other mob and experience the scale and energy of DAAF reminds me why creating these opportunities matters. We can talk about professional development, industry networks and pathways, and those things are important – but sometimes the impact is much more personal. It is seeing someone return home energised, affirmed in their practice and full of new ideas.
There was one moment during the National Indigenous Fashion Awards that captured this beautifully. Tahnee’s artwork unexpectedly appeared on the big screen as part of the Blak Design program she had previously participated in with RMIT and Koorie Heritage Trust, which had been shortlisted for an award. Neither of us was expecting to see it. Suddenly, there was this little piece of Tahnee, and by extension, a connection back to home, being celebrated on a national stage.
It felt affirming. One of those small moments when different threads seem to find each other again.
I think there is something powerful in those synergies. A workshop or opportunity taken years earlier can reappear somewhere unexpected. A conversation can become a relationship. An introduction can eventually become an exhibition, collaboration or friendship. We don’t always know where these pathways will lead when they begin.
For Kaiela Arts, this is why being present at gatherings like DAAF matters. It is not only about selling or presenting artwork. It is about ensuring our South-East artists are part of these national conversations, building relationships with other First Nations artists and art centres, and giving our people opportunities to experience the strength and diversity of First Nations creative practice beyond home.
There is a kind of magic in being together with mob in this way. Our people are full of it. In the work, the conversations, the generosity, the humour and the knowledge shared between generations and communities.
Larrakia Country seems to hold space for that magic every year.
We came home inspired, with new connections, new ideas and a renewed sense that we are moving in the right direction.
Written by: Chloe Jones, Curator & Gallery Manager
