AFSE 1

Today at Design Speaks’ The Architecture Symposium: Out of Office in Brisbane, Sarah Lynn Rees will present on AFSE (Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity) Hub at the University of Melbourne.

The theme of the symposium explores opportunities for cross-discipline collaboration and celebrates relationship-building and new ways of directly engaging with materials, makers and site.

A central feature of AFSE (Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity) Hub at the University of Melbourne is its Welcome area, which features a suspended installation of Message Sticks. Procured by Agency Projects, the sticks were made by furniture maker Damien Wright in collaboration with artist Bonhula YunupiƋu (Yolngu) and Pete McCurley (Ngarabul-Gumbaynggirr) of Curly Timbers.

The sticks were carved from a single messmate tree that blew down during a storm on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. The project team worked closely with Damien and Pete, who source recovered Australian timbers, to remove the tree. It was milled onsite before being transported to Damien’s studio in Northcote.  

From his studio, Damien formed the collaborative practice Bala Ga’ Lili (Two Ways Learning), an ongoing, cross-cultural project with Bonhula Yunupingu, a Yolngu artist from Northeast Arnhem Land. Together they crafted 360 Message Sticks for AFSE, 60 of which were sent across Australia to be marked by First Nations artists.   

Message Sticks have been used by First Nations communities for thousands of years to communicate across language and long distances. When fellows, staff and visitors are inducted into the fellowship program, they locate their Country on a map placed at the circle’s centre and adorn the corresponding Message Stick with a woven sleeve. Over time, the collection of woven sleeves will represent the AFSE community and allow those on site to reconnect with where they are and where they’re from.

Image: Tom Blachford