Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE)

Storytelling through poetry is a common practice by contemporary Blak writers. Join Alexis West (Birri Gubba, Wakka Wakka, South Sea Islander) who will help you to write your own protest poetry. Be inspired and learn to speak up for yourself using the power of words.

Using the inspiration of the women honoured in the Kumarangk exhibition, participants will acknowledge the power and presence of poetry in protest and learn to create their work. In this workshop Alexis will teach writing techniques, supporting the creative development of your poetry skillset.

Free event, bookings are required.

About Alexis Alexis West, a Birra Gubba, Wakka Wakka, South Sea Islander, Caucasian woman living and learning on Permangk and Kaurna Country’s for almost 25 years. Written and collaborated with No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability, Karrikarinya Theatre Collective, Kurruru Youth Arts, State Theatre Company South Australia, Yirra Yaakin, Act Now Theatre Company, Vital Statistix, Slingsby Theatre and Theatre Republic.

Written/directed short documentaries NITV/SBS. Published in ‘Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia’, ‘Mindshare’, ‘Ora Nui’, ‘Our Mob’ ‘Spirit Festival Catalogues’, translated into Polish for ‘Poetiks’ most recently in ‘The Rock Remains’. Play HOUSE ARREST premiereYirramboi 2025. CULTURE SLAP staged reading STCSA. SA Literary Award Winner: Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Fellowship

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In this workshop weaver, activist and actress Natasha Wanganeen (Kaurna, Narungga, Ngarrindjeri, Noongar) will teach traditional and contemporary weaving techniques to make your own woven jewellery piece.

Contemporary art practices have helped sustain the continuation of Ngarrindjeri weaving. Highlighted in Kumarangk, multiple weaving techniques are honoured using different materials across generations of Ngarrindjeri women. Natasha will be teaching you these techniques using multi-coloured raffia to make your pieces.

Free event, bookings required.

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Join us at ACE on Saturday 21 February to celebrate the opening of Kumarangk.

About the Exhibition Kumarangk is an intergenerational love letter for Ngarrindjeri women; an exhibition that explores the survival of culture, and resistance to colonial destruction.

Kumarangk will showcase a mix of newly commissioned and existing works from Ngarrindjeri women artists. Sandra Saunders’ Hindmarsh Island Collection will be remounted for the first time since it was first exhibited 20 years ago, alongside a major new painting that will conclude the collection. Through a series of paintings and wire works, the Hindmarsh Island Collection retells the story of the building of the bridge to Kumarangk (colonially known as hindmarsh island) and the resistance of the Ngarrindjeri women and allies. 

The exhibition also features major new works from Mardawi Art Collective, which includes the legendary Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, alongside Elizabeth Rankine, Margi Sumner, Temeika Campbell, Bessie Rigney, Zemiah Campbell, Debra Rankine and Stephanie Russell. 

Kumarangk will also feature new weaving pieces from Aunty Betty Sumner, Sonya Rankine, Carly Tarkari Dodd and ceramics from Tiarnie Edwards.

Image: Sandra Saunders, Ngarrindjeri/Boandik people, South Australia, born Millicent, South Australia 1947 ‘Nature’s Justice’, 2025, Port Lincoln, South Australia. Oil on hardboard, 130cm x 75cm. Photography by Connor Patterson.

Support: Kumarangk is supported by the South Australian government through Create SA; Country Arts SA; and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE).

This project is presented and supported by Adelaide Festival.

This project is also presented as part of Tarnanthi.

The publication is supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation.

This project is also supported by SA Water and the Graham F Smith Peace Foundation Inc.

Join us for an afternoon of artist talks, green-thinking and community connection, exploring how artists collaborate with plants, landscapes and more-than-human worlds.

Shenshen Zheng will share her experiences working with peas (Pisum sativum) in her slow-moving plant performance Peas, Shoots and Leaves. Trudy Tandberg will speak about her work with limestone, saws and soil in Cleaving the Woakwine. Artist and ecologist Amber Cronin joins Stephanie Dodderidge and Danni Zuvela for an open conversation on ecologically engaged art in South Australia. To close the day, Heidi Kenyon will lead a casual discussion (and potential experiment) in guerilla gardening.

We’ll also be hosting a plant swap – bring a cutting and take home something new!

Support

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) is supported by Create SA and Creative Australia. Push / Pull is supported by City of Adelaide, and History Trust of South Australia. Shan Michaels is supported by Arts Queensland. Special thanks to project partners the South Australian School and Services for the Visually Impaired, and The Mercury.

Image: Shenshen Zheng (2025), ‘Peas, Shoots and Leaves’, progress documentation. Photography by Lana Adams. Image alt text: Sprouted pea shoots growing densely in a shallow white container with visible roots and water below.