Indigenous Futures: Embodied Knowledges

10:30–10:45 Welcome and introduction: Kimberley Moulton and Helen O'Malley

Embodied Knowledges with Niillas Holmberg and Kelli Cole. Moderated by Kimberley Moulton

Knowledge in Indigenous cultures is embodied and relational. It is transferred in song, dance and ceremony through protocol and through intergenerational sharing. Hear from curator Kelli Cole (Warumungu and Luritja, Australia) and artist/poet/musician Niillas Holmberg (Sámi, Ohcejohka (Utsjoki), Sápmi) on their respective practices that work with land-based knowledges, anti-colonial practice and community collaboration.

10:45–11.15  Niillas Holmberg

11.20–11.50  Kelli Cole

11.50–12.30 Q&A moderated by Kimberley Moulton 

12.30–13.30 Break

Indigenous Science: Self-Determination and the Art-Science Intersection with Rauna Kuokkanen and Robert Andrew. Moderated by Katya Garcia Anton

Self-determined praxis and the intersection of creative practice and science is an important element of Indigenous research and artistic creation. The re-thinking of western systems of learning, policy, information processing and relationality to Indigenous lands and sciences is in constant flux. Hear from Scholar Dr. Rauna Kuokkanen (Sámi, Deatnu River, Ohcejohka/Utsjoki, Sápmi) and artist Dr. Robert Andrew (Yaru, Australia) on their dynamic practice in theory and new technology.  

13.30–13.35 Introduction

13.35–14.05 Rauna Kuokkanen 

14.10–14.40 Robert Andrew 

14.45–15.15 Q&A moderated by Katya Garcia-Anton 

15.15–15.45 Break

The Agency of Land: Relational Practice and Shifting the Colonial Consciousness with Anders Sunna, Daniel Boyd. Moderated by Erin Vink

Art has the power to address the on-going impact of settler –colonial histories and shift the colonial consciousness to expanded understandings of Indigenous sovereignty, histories and interconnections across transnational Indigenous Spaces. Hear from artists Anders Sunna (Sámi, Kieksiäisvaara, Sápmi) and Daniel Boyd (Kudjala, Ghungalu, Wangerriburra, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Kuku Yalanji, Bundjalung and Yuggera with ni-Vanuatu heritage) on their practices that critically address these themes.  

15.45 Introduction

15.50–16.20 Anders Sunna  

16.20–16.50 Daniel Boyd 

16.50–17.20 Q&A moderated by Erin Vink 

17.25 Closing remarks

17.35–17.50 Closing offering from Niillas Holmberg 

Participants

Anders Sunna

Anders Sunna is a Northern Sámi artist and duojár from a reindeer herding family in Kieksikäisvaara, Sweden. His politically charged work addresses Sámi oppression, focusing on his family’s decades-long struggle for forest reindeer recognition. It explores sovereignty, land rights, intergenerational resistance, and cultural survival through bold visual commentary.

Daniel Boyd

Daniel Boyd is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. He is a Kudjala, Ghungalu, Wangerriburra, Wakka Wakka, Gubbi Gubbi, Kuku Yalanji, Bundjalung, Yuggera man with ni-Vanuatu heritage. Boyd's practice reinterprets Eurocentric histories through archival imagery and has featured in the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) and an Art Gallery of New South Wales retrospective (2022).

Kelli Cole

Kelli Cole is a Warumungu and Luritja curator from Central Australia, and Director of Curatorial & Engagement for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia project in Alice Springs. She was lead curator of Emily Kam Kngwarray (Tate Modern, 2025–26) and co-curator of the 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial: Ceremony (2022).

Rauna Kuokkanen

Rauna Kuokkanen is Research Professor of Arctic Indigenous Politics at the University of Lapland and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto. Her work focuses on Sámi self-determination, Indigenous politics, and governance. She leads projects such as SápmiDem and the Siida School, centring Indigenous knowledge to reshape governance and challenge colonial systems.

Robert Andrew

Robert Andrew is a Yawuru artist from Broome, Western Australia. His practice uncovers denied or forgotten family histories, combining technology with earth pigments and natural materials. Through this process, he reveals layered spiritual, cultural, and historical relationships with land, waters, sky, and living beings, challenging dominant Western narratives.

Niillas Holmberg

Niillas Holmberg is a Sámi writer, musician, and activist from Ohcejohka (Ustjoki) in the Finnish part of Sápmi. Author of six poetry collections, two novels, and co-writer of Je’vida (2023), he blends joik with poetry in worldwide performances. His artistic and activist practice foregrounds Sámi sovereignty, ecological justice, cultural survival, and opposition to extractivist projects across Sápmi.

Conveners

Helen O’Malley

Helen O’Malley is Curator of International Art (Community & Participation) at Tate Modern. She develops exhibitions, displays, and commissions with a focus on socially engaged, collaborative practice, including the Hyundai Commission: Máret Anne Sara, Gathering Ground exhibition and Abbas Zahedi: Begin Again commission, and projects with Tate Neighbours.

Kimberley Moulton

Kimberley Moulton is a Yorta Yorta writer and curator from Victoria, Australia. She is Adjunct Curator Indigenous Art, Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational, and Senior Curator Exhibitions, RISING, Melbourne. Her work rethinks global Indigenous art histories, linking historical collections and contemporary practice, with projects including Emily Kam Kngwarray, (Tate Modern, 2025-26), TarraWarra Biennial: We Are Eagles (2025) and On Country: Photography from Australia, Rencontres d'Arles (2025).

Katya García-Antón

Katya García-Antón is an Oslo-based art historian and curator, former director of Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Office for Contemporary Art Norway, and Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum Tromsø. She co-curated the 2022 Sámi Pavilion at Venice Biennale, has published widely, and is preparing programs and exhibitions for Bukhara Biennial, Park van Abbey, and TEA.

Erin Vink

Erin Vink is a Ngiyampaa curator and writer and Senior Curator, First Nations Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Her practice explores contemporary Indigenous art locally and globally, developing new collection areas and curating projects including High Colour (2025) and Daniel Boyd: Treasure Island (2022–23).

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