Tony Albert

Tony Albert's project for NIRIN extends and expands upon his Blacktown Native Institution project, which aimed to support Aboriginal custodianship, to honour the Native Institution and their families, and raise awareness of the Stolen Generations in the broader community.

For the project, Albert had local children gift written memories to the former children of the Institution, written on paper imbedded with native seeds. The Native Institution (a former residential school for Indigenous children, established in 1815) was the beginning of Australia's Stolen Generations.

Healing Land, Remembering Country, is a new gesture of ‘memory exchange’. Presented as a sustainable greenhouse at Cockatoo Island, the work poses important questions such as: how do we remember, give justice to, and rewrite complex and traumatic histories? 

For NIRIN, Tony Albert invites visitors to his greenhouse to write on paper implanted with local native grass seeds, sharing thoughts and wishes for an alternative narrative for children and young people who were - and are - incarcerated. The letters will form part of the re-vegetation project at the Blacktown Native Institution. Make your own Recycled Seed Paper in this NIRIN at home activity.

To learn more, listen to the NIRIN podcast on Aboriginal Land Management with cultural and environmental educator, Clarence Slockee or download the Tony Albert Learning Resource from the Biennale's website.