Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

SESSION 1 : LOCAL WELCOME I NDIGENOUS WELCOME Lilla Watson I welcome this opportunity to invite all of you here today to join me in acknowledging and paying respect to the trad itional owners of the land on wh ich we are gathered , here on the banks of the river which they have called 'Mirmar' for thousands of generations . They cared for it, and for this land , and were sustained by them . Their spirits are still here: we walk in their footsteps. For Aboriginal people, th is is an important protocol when you are in someone else's country. While I am an Aboriginal person, I belong to another area, in what is now known as Central Queensland . This acknowledgement is an expression of the priority we g ive to belong ing to land, and the relationship between people and land. I take this opportunity to share with you something of th is central and persisting part of our culture. In our tradition, the place where an Aborig inal woman feels the first stirring of her ch ild in the womb is sacred : a spirit-child has entered her womb from the land at that place. That says the whole of life is a spiritual experience. We are more spirit than matter; and because our spirit comes from the land, it is the most important th ing in our lives . The land is our mother and teacher. Over tens of thousands of years, we have learned that while land can do without us, we cannot do without land . We see ourselves as having become human in this land , and need to look after it. We have developed a culture with a very strong - like it is set in concrete - a very strong custodial ethic, a commitment to look after land - to ensure our h istory stretches as far in front of us as it does behind us. We have also learned that the way we treat and care for land, and respect it, will determine the way we treat one another, care for one another, and respect one another. Our culture remains strong, and is reflected in our art, song and dance. At th is Triennial, and during this Conference, all of us here will be sharing ideas and life-experiences through those activities. Many of you who have come from overseas will have experienced, like Aboriginal Australians, the impact of colonisation . Your art, song and dance not only preserve traditional cultural values, but are also a response to that experience, and the struggle to maintain and enhance cultural identity and d ignity. Through that art, song and dance, we who have been colonised have something important to share with those here today whose h istory includes the role of coloniser. Those who dehumanise the colon ised also lose something of their own humanity. The art we produce can play an important part in helping us recognise and overcome the legacy of colonialism, and of persistent colonial perceptions and attitudes. We are most willing to share our knowledge and culture with all of you who have come from other countries to participate in this Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, as we have