Nyree Taylor is a multidisciplinary artist and the Artistic Director / Chair of the Gardiner Street Arts Collective (GSAC) in the Wheatbelt town of Moora.
Since moving to the region over two decades ago, she’s been a passionate voice for local artists, advocating for the arts as a force for unity, wellness and positive change in her community. It’s this background that Nyree brought to curating the Wheatbelt edition of the Regional Arts Triennial, Of the Earth. In this conversation, Project Officer Kristen Brownfield chats to Nyree about her practice and journey curating the exhibition.
Kristen: Of the Earth opened just a few days ago, how did it go Nyree?
Nyree: It was fantastic! All the artists were there, talking and connecting with people in the town, which created an opportunity for people to ask questions they might not otherwise have asked. Everyone had a moment to really connect with the artworks. That was important to us on the night, because we only had the artists here for two days. Lia McKnight from John Curtin Gallery was also here for the artist talks on the Saturday, which was amazing. The whole weekend was really uplifting.
Kristen: Beautiful. Did you have people attend from neighbouring towns or properties?
Nyree: Definitely. We had a lot of farmers there who were really interested in the subject and very supportive of the artists and what was happening that night. With everything that’s happening in the world right now, it really affects what’s happening in the town—what people spend, the farmers and their families, mental health and wellbeing—so having a moment that is both celebratory and questioning is vital for us.
We are always careful in how we work with our community, and we really wanted them involved. We’re a grassroots group, so that was very important the whole way through this—making sure the exhibition resonated with everyone in the community.
Image credits: Nyree Taylor at the opening of Of the Earth | Madeline Anderson and Nyree Taylor with their work WHAT IF WE NO LONGER LIVED ON THE EARTH BUT OF IT | Yued Elder Fred Mougridge. Annette Wiguna with her work Coming Together | Coming Together (detail), Annette Wiguna. Photography by Annette Wiguna.
Kristen: It’s beautiful that these openings can really draw the community together. How many artists were involved?
Nyree: We had ten all up, including myself. Everyone has a strong connection to the Wheatbelt or Midwest. There’s a mix of local artists such as Madeline Anderson and Emalin Govender, and artists from further afield, like Martine Perret and Deidre Robb. Martine and Deidre don’t live in the area, but they’ve been engaging with the North Midlands region for many years, so I felt like that deeper understanding of place was already present.
Kristen: Alongside your work with Gardiner Street Arts Collective, you have your own art practice. Can you share a bit more about your creative background?
Nyree: I’ve always been surrounded by artists, so I don’t really know any different but to create something. Originally, I was a performing artist and dancer through the scene in the 90s in Perth, which was really happening through the contemporary dance and photography worlds.
I moved to Piawaning about 25 years ago when I met my husband, where I have a studio on the farm. The upside of being isolated is that I feel like I move with my thoughts and my creativity. Instagram and things like that influence you to a point, but I don’t feel the influence or competitiveness of the scene in Perth. I don’t have that pressure. I can really make mistakes, and I love that.
Currently, my medium is the visual arts. I work a lot with the landscape. I’m very much trying to discover intuitively how the landscape affects me, but also whether it can affect other people when they’re looking at my paintings.
That’s how I connected with Madeline Anderson, a local Noongar Yued artist. She said that when she saw my painting she felt something. As a non-Indigenous person, getting that feedback made me feel really humbled. Madeline and I think very similarly about place. That’s where the ideas for Of the Earth came from—I’m on the earth and she is of it. For the show, we collaborated on a work, WHAT IF WE NO LONGER LIVED ON THE EARTH BUT OF IT, which looks at how we can bring those two worlds together.
Kristen: What a wonderful connection. Did you want to speak a bit more about that idea of being ‘of the Earth’?
Nyree: We started looking at the 26-Second Pulse—the phenomena describing Earth’s mysterious rhythm or ‘heartbeat’, the Earth being its own organism, and how Indigenous people, across the world, are very much of that. Ross Storey, another artist in the show, is a Wilman Noongar artist from Narrogin. Ross responded to this idea, saying “As Aboriginal people, we know that there’s this real pulse within the Earth.”
At the same time, it was about inviting non-Indigenous artists to think about their connection to this place, their own background, DNA and stories. It became quite collaborative; we were also thinking about sustainability, cycles, and memory, reconnecting with the land, knowledge, and community, and how we can shape a more hopeful future through connection.
Kristen: Holding onto hope is so important.
Nyree: We felt that there are plenty of other exhibitions that focus on the heavy themes. I think there’s a time for that, but with everything that’s going on in the world, we wanted it to be positive. We’ve got farmers deciding whether they’re going to do X, Y, and Z because they don’t have the diesel to do it, and people pulling back on programs, and it has this trickle-down effect.
It was important for it to be accessible to schools too. Having my own children, I’m very aware that young people need a positive, hopeful outlook. They don’t need the burden of all the anxiety. They already know enough. I think coming together, seeing some hope, and creating some joy is our job at the moment, so at its core, Of the Earth is about hope, faith, celebration, and knowledge of place, and asking ‘What can you do within your own place?’
Image credits: Beneath Dark Skies – Magnetic Fields (detail), Martine Perret | Ned Crossley with Every Mob, Our Mob/One Mob (Nidja, Boodja Warnkiny, Ni) made in collaboration with Ross Storey | Emalin Govender with her work Collision: Identity in Perspective and Reflection | Just keep moving (tread lightly) (details), Caitlin Stewart | Deidre Robb with her work A grateful woman of a certain age. Photography by Annette Wiguna
Kristen: That’s beautiful Nyree. What was it like working with the artists?
Nyree: As a curator, you’re really putting artists into a sort of corral, you’ve got to corral them along. You can say all the right things, like “it’s just a process, it’s organic, you’ll work through it” — but when it comes to crunch time — it’s like, no, I actually do need your work by the 26th (laughs).
We’ve got a really great team here, and we’ve curated shows before, but there were lots of learning curves as well, particularly around HR. I spoke to Lia McKnight about that, because I really take my hat off to her at that level of curating. One of the biggest things I took from a past teacher of mine is the importance of process. So that’s what I kept saying to the artists: whatever you do, you do, and if the final piece is just a work in progress, then that’s what it is. And it felt like all the artists were working like that, which resulted in some beautiful works.
Kristen: What do you hope audiences will take away from Of the Earth?
Nyree: I hope it breaks down some barriers, so people feel engaged and curious about the Aboriginal people and culture in the place they live, and maybe do a little bit more delving into how that could be healing for them, in a creative way. I hope it inspires people to connect to place; to maybe take their shoes off and go walking in the bush or down the beach, and question what it is to be of it, on it, and through it.
Kristen: Taking that time to connect with place, to the ground beneath your feet, while simple, can be so powerful. It sounds like Of the Earth really creates an invitation for that. Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Nyree: This process has done a lot for my confidence, and it really elevated where we were on the map as an arts organisation. I’ve learned that I really love bringing people and ideas together, and curating is a way to do that. Creating spaces where artists can share their work and communities can connect in meaningful ways.
Kristen: That’s a gorgeous way to end. Thanks Nyree.
Radical Futures: Of the Earth continues at Gardiner Street Arts Collective until 29 March. It features work by Madeline Anderson, Ned Crossley, Saira Ellen K.Spencer, Emalin Govender, Martine Perret, Deidre Robb, Caitlin Stewart, Ross Storey, Nyree Taylor and Annette Wiguna. Find out more
The WA Regional Arts Triennial 3: Radical Futures is funded with support from the WA Government. It is coordinated by Southern Forest Arts with support from ART ON THE MOVE through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost. Project partners include John Curtin Gallery, Regional Arts WA, GalleriesWest and Kimberley Arts Network.