Join exhibiting artist Buzz Gardiner and filmmaker Amie Batalibasi for an in conversation, including a discussion on their shared artistic exploration of the historical practice of black birding.
To begin the in conversation, there will be a screening of Batalibasi’s short film ‘Blackbird’ (13 minutes, PG). The film tells the story of Solomon Islander siblings, Rosa and Kiko, who were kidnapped from their island home to work on a sugar cane plantation in Queensland, Australia in the late 1800s.
Buzz Gardiner is a Vanuatu born Australian-Solomon Islander based on the Gold Coast, whose personal photography work explores the balance between assimilation and holding onto cultural identity. His work ‘Clearing’ from the series ‘Banyan Coast’ (2022-ongoing) features in ‘Walking Through the Darkness’.
Amie Batalibasi is an Australian-Solomon Islander filmmaker, creative producer and founder of creative arts platform Colour Box Studio. Amie’s creative practice aims to bring diverse stories to light by collaborating with people and communities at a grassroots level, to unearth stories that have the possibility to spark empowerment and create change. Her short drama, ‘Blackbird’, inspired by the history of Australia’s sugar slaves, screened at the 69th Berlinale International Film Festival, received several script awards from the Victorian College of the Arts, and debuted on NITV (National Indigenous Television) and SBS OnDemand in 2017.