Paula wins Design Week’s ‘Best Work’

Moa Arts Artist Paula Savage has won a 2023 Melbourne Design Week Award for Best Work, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the Design Week program.

Judges complimented Paula for the originality of her bold expressive forms in her handwoven baskets, including Dollar Reef, No. 2 Reef and No. 3 Reef.

Paula also presented as part of a panel discussion at the event with Nicolette Johnson, Jessica Murtagh and Emma Jackson, and NGV curator Simone LeAmon, as part of a series of Melbourne Design Fair TALKS reflecting on their practices and works in the FOCUS exhibition.

Paula Savage

... is a Mualgal woman from the Serganilgal clan group from the village of Dabu on Moa Island, Torres Strait, and the Kaurareg Nation of Muralag and Kiriri.

A senior artist, Savage has been a member of Ngalmun Lagau Minaral Art Centre (Moa Arts) since 2017.

Maurice set to tour as he ‘dares to dream’

Cairns-based JUTE Theatre Company’s award-winning First Nations residency program Dare to Dream hits the road this month, with talented and aspiring young actor Maurice Sailor playing a lead role.

Her works are renowned for bringing to life the enduring traditional material practices of her cultural heritage that are both learned and lived. Her work has appeared in national exhibitions including Longwater: Fibre Stories, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2020) and Tarnanthi, Art Gallery of South Australia (2019).

I Gut this Feeling, by Isaac Drandic, blends a compelling narrative with First Nations storytelling to form the centrepiece of the program which is bound for the Cape York and Gulf communities of Mossman, Weipa, Mapoon, Lockhart River, and Normanton.

Delivered by an all-new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cast and crew, Maurice will be working alongside stage/tour manager Serena Thompson and actor Jamaylya Ballangarry-Kearins.

“This kind of theatre is important because we are sending a message to kids and communities about how to be safe, to trust your intuition and to build confidence,” Maurice said.

“I think it’s going to be awesome because I’m going with a mob who share the same energy for getting out there and spreading this positive and important message.

“Aunty Rita from The Pryce Centre for Culture and Arts got in contact and told me that there was an opportunity with JUTE to spread an important message in the remote communities of Queensland.

“They were looking for someone who is aware of issues affecting our people and that has a passion for acting and theatre work so I thought that I might be a good fit.

“By getting to know each other more in rehearsals, we are getting closer and more comfortable around each other so I think that these five weeks travelling around are going to be pretty special.”

He said he was blessed to be doing this kind of work.

“I bring experience in on-stage performance and an awareness of the impact that these kind of productions and their messaging can have,” he said.

“I know that it is really important work to do and I’m really blessed to be doing work that I am passionate about and that I enjoy.”

At each community visited over the five weeks, they will host four-day theatre residency program of daily workshop sessions for up to 20 young people (Years 4 to 6 and 7 to 9), offering a fun and exciting environment to learn leadership, confidence, teamwork, acting, and creating performance skills.