In Coversation  |  Marcus Ferguson + Jo Kijas

This special podcast was recorded as part of the Speaking with the River - Citizen Science workshop program with LabX and guest artists held in the Gallery during March 2021.

Nyangbul artist and historian, Marcus Ferguson is joined by environmental historian Jo Kijas in conversation around the richness, fragility, and future of the Lower Richmond River. The lands and waters of Bulinaa/Ballina remain culturally active but suffer annual extremes in poor water quality.  Share in a tidal conversation about oysters and mangroves. Marcus has used discarded mangrove wood from the Pacific Highway upgrade at Duck Creek to embed his respect of Country into telling artworks included in the exhibition. 

Marcus Ferguson, Nyangbul artist and historian, has a special connection to the Duck Creek and Bingal Creek Mob of the Lower Richmond River. Residing along the Richmond River has given him a greater understanding and appreciation of the culturally active waters and landscapes throughout Ballina and the surrounding area, respecting the culturally appropriate ways of his ancestral guardians that still inhabit many of the region’s cultural waters and landscapes of today.

Jo Kijas is a consultant historian and Adjunct Fellow at Southern Cross University. Her research and publications are focused in three areas: environmental, community and post-colonial history, specialising in oral history. Jo’s recent consultancies have centred around water, rivers, and wetlands. These include a history of the Tuckean Swamp and an oral history of fishers and oyster farmers in Wallis Lake. 

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This project was supported by Create NSW’s Audience Development Fund, a devolved funding program administered by Museums & Galleries of NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.