Pavilion of Sand
This panel discussion features the collaborators of Pavilion of Sand, a design project created in 2022 in Wheeler Place, Newcastle, led by Awabakal architect Shellie Smith alongside Wiradjuri artist Joel Sherwood Spring, Barkindji Malyangapa artist Jasmine Craciun and Future Method founder Genevieve Murray.
The panellists will discuss how they reimagined Wheeler Place as it was before it became a paved colonial grid – a landscape of sand once moved by wind, tides and floods. During New Annual Festival 2022, sand was returned to the heart of the city as structure, ballast, shelter and seating for a pavilion that celebrated stories and cultural practices of Awabakal and Worrimi people. This included a program of dance, performance, native food workshops and language workshops.
‘The pavilion and its shade cloth roof create an almost ghostly, transient version of what was once here and who was using this land before us, bringing the past and present together in one place’
Speakers
Jasmine Miikika Craciun is a multimedia artist and graphic designer living on Gadigal land. Working predominantly in digital illustration and mural creation, her practice also includes animation, sculpture, textiles and installation. As a Barkindji and Malyangapa woman and simultaneously the daughter of a migrant, Craciun explores the intersections of her identity and the places she feels deeply connected to but geographically separated from.
Genevieve Murray is the co-director of Future Method, a collaborative inter/anti-disciplinary practice working on projects that sit outside established notions of contemporary art and architecture in attempts to transfigure spatial dynamics of power. She is undertaking PhD research examining emerging planning methodologies in Western Sydney under the supervision of Professor Heidi Norman at the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges in the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Joel Sherwood Spring is a Wiradjuri anti-disciplinary artist and Powerhouse design resident. He works collaboratively on projects focused on examining the contested narratives of Australia’s urban cultural and Indigenous history in the face of ongoing colonisation.He is a co-director of Future Method Studio, a collaborative interdisciplinary practice working across architecture, installation and speculative projects. He guest-edited Runway Journal’s 44th issue TIME in 2021 and was a commissioned artist for Ceremony, the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial in 2022 at the National Gallery of Australia.
Shellie Smith is a proud Awabakal woman and 8th generation Novocastrian who combines research and creative practice to reconnect with her Aboriginal heritage. An associate lecturer in Indigenous design and architecture at the University of Newcastle, Smith is undertaking PhD research focused on the traditional architectures of the Awabakal people and how a better understanding of their practices can inform contemporary design that is responsive to Country. She has a love for living history and combines historical research, personal story and interpretation of archived objects to rebuild culture and make the traditional relatable to today.
‘Sand, which characterises this coastline up into Worimi Country on the opposite shore heading north, has long been a material with its liquid and subtle and constant movement that acts as a mediating force’
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