We want some good to come out of it, we want our younger generation to come in and be a part of what we are doing, learn their culture and learn who they are so they can go out and be proud and strong people, Aunty May Hinch, founding artist, Euraba Artists and Papermakers.

Illuminate is a community-driven initiative which captures the aspirations of the Goomeroi people in the communities of Toomelah and Boggabilla, in northwest NSW. It allows the community to explore generational relationships, stories and ideas between the Goomeroi people and their community.

This unique project has evolved through the significance of home, and highlights the region’s important lived history and contemporary experiences through an immersive installation created with paper, light and sound.

In Illuminate a replica ‘mission home’ is clad with handmade paper, made by the artists, with a sound piece and projections onto each of the walls providing an intimate insight into the community. The project has been developed in collaboration with invited Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones. The paper has been made through Euraba Artists and Papermakers, the organisation owned and operated by Goomeroi people of Toomelah and Boggabilla that specialises in handmade paper produced from off-cuts from the cotton industry, which is a major crop in the region. The sound piece and projections have been compiled by filmmaker Matthew Priestly through his relationship with the community over the past 15 years.

Illuminate has allowed contemporary artistic practices to be combined with traditional cultural practice, engaging Goomeroi youth, emerging artists and the broader community while highlighting the value of the Elders, Goomeroi culture and their arts practice.

The work will first be shown on Goomeroi land, on the banks of their river, which is significant to Goomeroi people and fundamental to the arts practice of Euraba, before being showcased at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of Corroboree Sydney.

Illuminate is a partnership project, developed by Euraba Artists and Papermakers, Boggabilla and Beyond Empathy, Armidale. It is a collaboration between Aunty May Hinch, Leonie Binge, Lola Binge Donald Cubby, Paul Mackie, Matthew Priestly, Jonathan Jones and community members.