Jahkarli Romanis is a proud Pitta Pitta woman, an emerging artist, researcher and curator based on Kulin Land. After completing an Honours in Photography degree in 2020, she commenced a PhD at Monash University in 2021 through the Wominjeka Djeembana Research Lab. Her work is inextricably intertwined with her identity as a Pitta Pitta woman and explores the complexities of her lived experience and the continuing negative impacts of colonisation in what is now known as Australia.
(Dis)connected to Country is an ongoing project that maps the intersections of place, identity and family. It examines the encoded biases present within different photographic technologies and from an Indigenous perspective. The work critically analyses archive, representation and grapples with the idea of photographs having their own agency. The project aims to disrupt and subvert colonial approaches to image making and mapping systems, highlighting the omission of significant Indigenous Knowledges. This project is rooted in family history, story and Country. It is dedicated to the sacrifices, intergenerational traumas and lived experiences present within Romanis' family.
This exhibition is being presented as part of NAIDOC Week, happening from 2 - 9 July 2023. The theme for the 2023 National NAIDOC Week is For Our Elders.
Curator | Angela Connor, MAPh Senior Curator
MAPh exhibition space, the Atrium Gallery, provides emerging artists with an opportunity to showcase their practice to MAPh’s audiences. The Atrium Gallery is situated between MAPh and the Wheelers Hill Library.
