Alison Page

Founder – Zakpage

Session title

Finding and amplifying your place’s songlines.

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Abstract

Within your place are stories and gifts that only your community can truthfully showcase. Uncovering a place’s stories can inspire ideas that drive meaning for existing residents and attract new ones. From offering a Welcome to Country to new mothers and babies based on the story of Barangaroo, through to the example set by Breville, a multinational company that delved deeply into understanding 65,000 years of Australian food culture to inspire itsIndigenous collection, tapping into a place’s song lines and stories can deliver meaning and depth to your community’s place branding work that might otherwise be hard to achieve.

In this session, renowned Indigenous artist and intellectual Alison Page will take us through the how and why of getting to the heart of your place’s unique story

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Bio

Alison Page is a descendant of the Dharawal and Yuin people whose career began in the late 90’s working in architecture and interior design and expanded to urban design, sculpture and film. In 2015 she co-founded Zakpage with filmmaker Nik Lachajczakto bring the power of storytelling to screens and public spaces primarily to awaken the memory of Country. Their work explores the convergence of film and design to create place-based, immersive storytelling experiences that speak to traditional knowledges, ceremony and ritual, truth-telling and its impact on the Australian identity.

Projects include Wellama (2019), a permanent film installation at Barangaroo, The Message (2020) film installation for Endeavour 250 exhibition at the National Museum of Australia (NMA), The Eyes of the Land and the Sea(2020) sculpture at Kamay Botany Bay National Park. In 2022 they created a film experience, Ochre and Sky for the Great Southern Land exhibition at NMA, which is now touring six venues in China. They are currently working on a number of permanent sculpture projects inSydney with UAP and TILT for the redevelopment of the David Jones building, the Fish Markets Redevelopment, M6 Parklands and Bondi Pavilion.

Alison is currently Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) at UTS Faculty of Design,Architecture & Building, and a member of several cultural boards including the National Australia Day Council, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, and the Australian National Maritime Museum. She is the founder of the National Aboriginal Design Agency and in 2015 she was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame and in 2022 was the Interior Design Excellence Awards Gold Medal winner. Alison was a panelist for eight years on the ABC television programThe New Inventors, which showcased Australian innovation.