Nupiri-ti Palawa

Nupiri-ti Palawa is a community led, immersive, multi-site statewide festival experience that highlights the work of Palawa artists and facilitates cultural exchange and dialogue between artists and the community.

Taking place over four weeks in 2027, the festival will bring together commercial, community, and council-owned galleries and public spaces across Nipaluna / Hobart and broader Lutruwita to showcase, platform, and celebrate the work of Palawa artists working across a range of artforms, providing a highly visible platform for Palawa stories and cultural expressions.

The Nupiri-ti Palawa project leaders and cultural advisors are Theresa Sainty, Jeanette James and Cheryl Mundy trimanya who have been working with City of Clarence and the Rosny Farm over the last year to navigate festival consultation, artist engagement, project co-ordination, gallery project partners, statewide reach and so much more.

While the project has been designed and led by Palawa cultural advisors, the delivery model provides an opportunity for other councils and galleries to take an active role in presenting works in their local community. This shared responsibility reflects a collaborative approach, setting the framework for a state-wide initiative that promotes Aboriginal art on a significant scale.

Galleries engaged in Nupiri-ti Palawa conversations include: Bett Gallery, Contemporary Art Tasmania, Moonah Art Centre, Rosny Farm, Good Grief ARI, Penny Contemporary and Vibrance.

The name Nupiri-ti Palawa means “through Palawa eyes” in Palawa kani.

Nupiri-ti Palawa Cultural Advisors and Project Leaders

Cheryl Mundy trimanya is a Pakana woman from the Pinterreriner people of the Lumaranatana (Country at Cape Portland) and Layrapinthi (Country at Musselroe) in North-East Lutruwita.  She has a son and three grandchildren.

She has worked extensively in Aboriginal health, wellbeing and mental health for over four decades in Aboriginal organisations, NGO’s and government agencies. Cheryl maintains that cultural expression and art are wellbeing tools for individuals and communities.

Cheryl is a songwriter singer, weaver, sculptor, set designer, poet, film producer, post-production voice artist, and cultural and health educator and consultant. Involved in community arts since the late eighties she has been co-facilitating workshops with renowned Pakana weaver Aunty Colleen Minungkana Mundy for over twenty years.  Among numerous creative activities Cheryl has co-produced two installations at TMAG and a permanent installation at the former Queens Orphan School, and recently collaborated with artist Priscilla Beck, Southern Beaches Landcare Coastcare and the Dodges Ferry community in a land-based installation that embedded storytelling in County.

Theresa Sainty is a researcher, writer and poet. She is a highly skilled and experienced consultant with a background in Government (state and Australian), Aboriginal Community Organisation (Aboriginal Linguistic Consultant), program evaluation, curriculum development, Aboriginal Cultural Awareness development and delivery and public speaking. She is a Senior Indigenous Scholar with UTAS, undertaking a PhD which is a continuation of her decades long research (which began in 1997) as Aboriginal Linguistic Consultant with the palawa kani Language Program.

Theresa has also worked independently as a cultural advisor on several projects with Roar Film, the National Maritime Museum of Australia, Causeway Films (The Nightingale) and the ABC, including developing complementary project-based curriculum resources. Most recently Theresa has undertaken multifaceted projects with various local Councils and various collaborations with artists and writers.

Jeanette James is a Tasmanian Aboriginal artist who grew up with her Mum, Aboriginal artist Corrie Fullard, in Northern Lutruwita. She spent her early years walking the beaches of the island collecting shells. Later the family ran a fishing business, it was then that Jeanette first got to know “mainland” Lutruwita (Tasmania) from the sea.

Jeanette James has continued the age-old tradition of shell necklace stringing as passed on by her family. It is a practice that has continued for generations. Recently retired, Jeanette spends much of her spare time designing and making her shell jewellery. Jeanette spends as much time as possible exploring the pristine beaches around Lutruwita looking for the wide variety of shells required to produce her beautiful necklaces.

Jeanette has recently been appointed as one of ten representatives on the Inaugural First Nations Board for the Arts an initiative by the national government to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art practice.

Nupiri-ti Palawa consultation has been supported by City of Clarence, Rosny Farm and Arts Tasmania.

For more information about this project please email Lou Conboy lconboy@ccc.tas.gov.au or Priscilla Beck pbeck@ccc.tas.gov.au