Jarjums Life Museum is just that little bit more special because it is a children’s museum. Harvey, 9
Jarjums Life Museum is a process and a collection of contemporary, original artworks created and curated by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children or jarjums. Intertwining exploration, visual arts, storytelling, photography, soundscapes and culture, Jarjums Life Museum documents the life of the jarjums – their here and now and what life is like growing up today.
During the pilot project in 2016, 86 jarjums from the coastal mob of Minjerribah – North Stradbroke Island and the urban mob of Hymba Yumba Community Place, worked closely with professional artists, their families and the wider community to create unique, contemporary and personal pop-up museums. The artworks in the collection included self portraits, drawings, writings, ideas, paintings, recordings and curated items which represented contemporary Indigenous culture and lives in an urban and coastal community.
Each community had their own pop-up museum with the whole collection featured as part of Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Out of the Box Festival. The jarjums were featured artists of the festival and acted as guides answering questions and connecting with museum visitors as well as experiencing the rest of the program.
Delivered by Inala Wangarra, Jarjums Life Museum provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with the opportunity to tell and interpret their own stories – within their own communities, and to the wider world.
January to August 2016
Minjerribah- North Stradbroke Island
Hymba Yumba Community Place, Springfield
QPAC, South Brisbane.
$50,000 – Backing Indigenous Art Fund
I am so glad I found such a great exhibition. So deadly!! It was so lovely to see your wonderful creations and to share in your stories. Visitor Book, Jarjums Life Museum, Out of the Box, 2016
Seeing my daughter on the museum’s wall was so overwhelming that I just burst into tears. I am so proud of her and of all the work that she has done. I had no idea she was so creative. Parent
The artistic and project team reflected on the main learnings from the project and impacts:
The number of hours spent in each community really contributed to the success for the project. Over 40 hours ended up being spent in each location and this is evidenced in the work that was created and in the enduring connections with jarjums, their families and the wider community.
This project highlighted the depth of creative and cultural capacity of the jarjums we worked with and worked to strengthen our core project philosophy: Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders should be visible in mainstream society.
Jane Jennison
Email: stylinup@inalawangarra.com.au
Website: http://inalawangarra.com.au/