TRACESA First Nations voice-to-art experience

Kirli Saunders

Kirli Saunders (OAM) is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning writer, multidisciplinary artist and consultant. She was a co-artist for TRACES alongside Kamsani Bin Salleh, Google, Magabala Books & Sydney Opera House and has partnered with global organisations, Google, Vogue, Fender, Qantas and Aesop to celebrate stories and cultivate change. Her celebrated books among others include Bindi, and forthcoming Returning (2023, Magabala). She is currently writing her novel, Yaraman.

Kam Barni

Kamsani Bin Salleh descended from the Ballardong Noongar, and Nimunburr and Yawuru people of the Kimberley region in Western Australia. He is a multidisciplinary artist who reflects the natural world and the evolution of traditional customs. Kamsani explores and subverts often negative representations of First Nations Peoples within mass-media. Encouraging intergenerational storytelling through art, Kamsani hopes to create a strong sense of community and pride in our collective identities.

Teela Reid

Teela Reid is a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, lawyer, essayist, storyteller and co-founder of Blackfulla Bookclub, a platform that honours First Nation’s Ancestors as the original Storytellers. Teela was awarded 2022 Indigenous Leader at the Australian Law awards. Currently, Teela is a Sydney-based Senior Solicitor practicing in Aboriginal Land Rights litigation and is the current Practitioner in residence at Sydney Law School. She is also a campaigner for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Nardi Simpson

Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay writer, composer, playwright, and educator, as well as a musician and performer in the Stiff Gins. Song of the Crocodile (Hachette Australia) was the 2018 winner of a black&write! writing fellowship and became Nardi’s masterful debut novel. It is highly awarded – longlisted for the Miles Franklin award and has also been shortlisted for major state and national awards.

Nardi continues to perform with Stiff Gins, works with student ensembles and directs cross-cultural choir Barayagal at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is currently undertaking a PhD with the ANU School of Music. Heavily involved in the making and sharing of culture in both her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities, Nardi lives in Sydney's Inner West with her partner and teenage son.

Jazz Money

Jazz Money (she/they) is a poet and artist of Wiradjuri heritage producing works that encompass installation, digital, performance, film and print.

Their writing has been widely published nationally and internationally, and performed on stages around the world, including: TEDx Sydney, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Sydney Opera House, Literature Live! Mumbai, Performance Space New York, PEN International, and a wide range of arts and literary festivals in every Australian state and territory.

Jazz's first poetry collection, the best-selling how to make a basket (UQP, 2021) was the 2020 winner of the David Unaipon Award. In 2023 she is a Clothing Store resident artist at Carriageworks in Sydney.

As a cross-disciplinary artist their work has been presented in public settings and leading institutions including: HeK Basel, Switzerland; The Shed, New York; Pivô, São Paulo; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; ACMI, Melbourne; Powerhouse, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Sydney; Carriageworks, Sydney; Fremantle Biennale; Hyphenated Biennale; and others.

Working across different mediums, Jazz’s practice is centred around questions of narrative and legacy: place memory, First Nations memory, colonial memory and the stories that we tell to construct national and personal identity.

Magabala Books

Magabala Books is Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher who for decades have nurtured First Nations storytellers, authors, artists and illustrators to share their stories. They recognise the significance of storytelling for self-determination, continuity of Culture and connection to Country. This collaborative project presented a unique opportunity for Magabala to explore a new form of expression and storytelling through new technologies and digital exploration.

Google

Google Creative Lab is a group of interdisciplinary thinkers and doers, consisting of designers, writers, business leaders, filmmakers, animators, producers, creative technologists, and much more. The small team pushes for an impact that outweighs its footprint. There are Creative Labs in NYC, London, and Sydney.