Gabi Briggs: West Space Commission

Melbourne-based artist Gabi Briggs is the recipient of one of two West Space commissioning opportunities in 2024. She will present a new short film, focussing on Anaiwan skinship practices, and the preparation for an historic, 100 kilometre walk that her ancestors used to do from Ingelba Aboriginal Reserve to the Armidale Showground, across Anaiwan country in Northern New South Wales.

This West Space Commission forms an early part of a site-specific research project, centred on thinking about how to get Aboriginal people into contact with their own lands and waterways – particularly in the context of climate emergency – and the frictions that arise when this comes into tension with a settler understanding of Country.