Community
26 June, 2023
First Nations’ VIP visits
THE visit of the newly appointed First Nations people ambassador Justin Mohamed to Cairns and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) headquarters could be the fair’s first step towards their international aspirations.
In his first Australian tour, Mr Mohamed sat down with CIAF’s artistic director Francoise Lane and general manager Darrell Harris to discuss CIAF’s plans for collaboration with First Nations people abroad.
“CIAF is one of those many innovation projects going on in Australia that are not getting enough attention down south,” Mr Mohamed said.
“I’m really impressed with their vision to engage internationally.
“They play an important role for First Nations people because one, we can celebrate and teach, and our artists can showcase their art and tell their stories but the other important part is for non-Aboriginal people and visitors to see the strength of the longest living culture that we have in the world.”
CIAF’s general manager Darrell Harris said the appointment of an ambassador for First Nations and subsequential meeting with him was an important step in CIAF’s strategic plan.
“It’s great that he has taken the time to come and visit us,” Mr Harris said.
“After the pandemic, CIAF itself is poised to move forward into international engagement, we have some opportunities this year with international visitation for symposiums and conversations during CIAF,” he said.
“We also highlighted in our 2019 strategic plan an opportunity to have international engagement in the Pacific and this is an important stepping stone to get us thinking in that direction. We’re also thinking of European engagement.
“The world is a lot closer to us either by air travel or digital means which is only going to grow the opportunities for partnerships that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can engage with.”
The 14th CIAF is from Thursday, July 13 to Sunday, July 16.
Visit www.ciaf.com.au
