The 2022 exhibition Barring Nganjin: Our Path, Our Journey brought more than 45 works by Stolen Generations survivors to Federation Square in Melbourne.
Presented by the Koorie Heritage Trust from 26 May to 28 August, the exhibition included painting, weaving, prints and mixed media. It was described as the trust’s largest single presentation of art by Stolen Generations survivors.
Truth-telling through individual practice
Each participating artist approached the history of forced removal through a personal visual language. The works addressed separation from family, cultural disconnection, institutional life and the long process of reclaiming identity.
The exhibition’s historical context included Victoria’s Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869, which gave authorities extensive control over Aboriginal lives and contributed to the policies now associated with the Stolen Generations.
Participating artists included Lyn Austin, Eric Brown, Freddy Clark, Talgium “Chocko” Howard Edwards, John Elliot, Les Griggs, Monique Grbec, Treahna Hamm, Colleen Howell, Thomas Marks, Makia McLoughlin, Alice Solomon, Norm Stewart, Andrew Travis and Lisa Waup.
Art as memory and healing
Gamilaroi artist and survivor Uncle Eric Brown described growing up without knowledge of culture after being placed in the government system. For him, art became part of recovering what institutional life had removed.
Link-Up Victoria’s Aunty Bev Murray emphasised that art and storytelling supported healing and wellbeing while preserving the distinct experiences of each survivor.
The exhibition did not present resilience as a substitute for acknowledging harm. Its works held trauma, survival and cultural continuity together, allowing the artists to speak through images made on their own terms.
Barring Nganjin placed those accounts in one of Melbourne’s most visible public spaces. The scale and location transformed personal testimony into a collective act of truth-telling.