The National Indigenous Photomedia Forum, Shadow Life: Moving Image

The program opens with the National Indigenous Photomedia Forum co-programmed by ACMI ’s Artist in Residence Reko Rennie and Arts Victoria in association with the Centre of Contemporary Photography (CCP). Indigenous communities across Australia have a strong interest in photomedia, film and online media, both as audiences and creatives. Despite this and the surge in media practices across the country, the Indigenous community is not well represented in many professional media and photographic associations. This forum addresses this situation by presenting professional development and networking opportunities that assist artists to develop knowledge and skills. Alongside Rennie, Indigenous speakers include Mervyn Bishop (photo journalist), Daniel Browning (broadcast journalist), Patricia Adjaye (from Copyright Agency Ltd), Darren Siewes (photographer), Diane Jones (photo-media artist), Lisa Reihana (Maori multimedia artist), r e a (visual artist) and more. The three day program also includes workshops facilitated by Dr Les Walkling (photographer, educator) and others. The National Indigenous Photomedia Forum will run from Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 February 2011 and is free to Indigenous artists.

On Saturday 11 February ACMI host Shadow Life: Moving Image, a co-presentation with the City of Melbourne and Asialink. Presented as a looped screening from 10am to 6pm with a contextual talk by curator Djon Mundine OAM at 3pm, Shadow Life is an exhibition of moving image works by contemporary Indigenous Australian artists exploring the notion of the shadow as a representation of our soul that can never leave us or exist independent of us. Participating artists include Vernon Ah Kee (Whitefella Normal, Blackfella Me, 2004), Bindi Cole (Seventy Times Seven, 2011), Destiny Deakin and Virginia Fraser (Good Golly Miss Dolly, 2005), Fiona Foley (Bliss, 2006), Genevieve Grieves (Picturing the Old People, 2005), Tracy Moffatt (Other, 2009) and Christian Thompson (Gamu Mambu (Blood Song), 2010). Shadow Life is a free event.