Ngarranggarni: Gija Art and Country

This on-country subject takes place at Warmun Art Centre and on surrounding Gija land in the East Kimberley, Western Australia. It is taught by senior Gija knowledge holders as part of a collaborative two-way learning partnership with University of Melbourne cultural materials conservation staff. Gija lecturers will introduce students to the concept of Ngarranggarni; an expansive and complex one that defies simple definition or translation. The Ngarranggarni is also a framework that continues to encode, nourish and maintain Gija law and conceptions of social organisation, trade and exchange, kinship relations and family ties, custodianship of country and the practice of song, dance, spirituality, art, language and philosophy.