NAIDOC Week 2023 Live Art Session with David Cragg

This year’s NAIDOC Week theme of “For Our Elders” references the important role Elders have played and continue to play across every generation, and the prominent place they hold in communities and families.

David spent Tuesday 4^th and Wednesday 5^th July in the lobby of Liberty Place creating the artwork entitled ‘Warrane’ (which translates to ‘Sydney’).

The painting features the natural coastal landscape of the Sydney area, with native flora and fauna including the Glossy Black Cockatoo and a New Holland Honeyeater.

His eye-catching creative practice helps connect audiences to place, while exploring narratives centred on First Nations sovereignty that deconstruct colonial understandings of Australia and reveal wilder, truer and more complex ecological histories.

The artwork will be on display in the Liberty Place lobby for the duration of NAIDOC Week before being auctioned off. Proceeds will go to The Returning, an Indigenous charity designed to bring all peoples of all ages, races and places back to Country. Their programs include community events and camps created for care, to help bridge the privilege gap between those who can afford retreats and those who cannot, with full scholarships to all Indigenous participants.

Contact Liberty Place (via direct message on Instagram) for more details of the silent auction.

The activation was curated and produced by aMBUSH Gallery and presented by Liberty Place.