JAJA's moving artwork is projected in the Lismore Quad each night after dusk.
THYLACINE TRACE follows the stories of extinction and subtle remaining echoes of the carnivorous marsupial that was native to our mainland and the islands of Lutruwita and Niugini. The work forms part of a body of work seeding from THE KNU (new). During JAJA's Regional Arts Australia Fellowship, they have been exploring THE KNU as a living question, a creative proposition and a call to imagine what comes after the structures of colonisation begin to fall away. The KNU holds both truth and possibility. It does not turn away from grief, violence or dispossession. Instead, it insists on balance. Alongside trauma there must also be making, imagining and building. THE KNU is about remembering to focus on what is being created moving forward, prompting us to think about the threat of extinction for the human species. THYLACINE TRACE is a bold ignition, provoking people to embody a deeper notion of the activation needed to transform from the dissolving genocidal program into THE KNU.
About JAJA
Time to unsettle the settler. Wiradjuri original ablaze with the exploration of the internal revolution, JAJA holds a deep commitment to accountability. Exploring self and identity along their matrifocal bloodline and matri-ancestral kin, JAJA pays homage to their grandmothers, Catherine Ingram and Martha Hamlin, and the women who came before. Their practice revolves around retracing ancestral imprints and is deeply rooted in public art and placemaking, with strong amplification of matrifocal care. The system is cracking, and it is time to listen deeply to our waters, lands, lines and sky country. Time to evolve into what is not only possible, but necessary. Time to decolonise. Time to walk home together.
