Bagurrk Biik

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Title: Bagurrk Biik
Artists: Aunty Kim Wandin (Wurundjeri) and Chris Joy. 
Creative team: Amanda Wright (Palawa) and Ryan Tews
Year: 2022
Location: Yarra Ranges Council Civic Centre, 15 Anderson Street, Lilydale 3140.
Coordinates: View Map

Summary

Bagurrk Biik, pronounced ‘bagrook – bik’, means ‘Women Country’ in Woi-wurrung language and is the name given to the collection of contemporary artworks throughout 8 meeting rooms at the new Civic Centre. 

These rooms are a cultural daily welcoming of staff and community to Country and reminder of its interconnectivity with Wurundjeri people. 

‘Bagurrk Biik’ is a proud statement that women are Country and Country is women: their cultural practices, ceremonies, families, communities, work and play. 

Each room within this project is named in Woi-Wurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri people, after a plant or concept symbolising women’s relationship to Country.  

‘These plants are intertwined with everything that is Biik (Country) and their specificity to place. They are deeply embedded in our cultural practices reminding us that we are one and the same. They give us self.’ Aunty Kim Wandin  

Bagurrk Biik features a number of large decals on glass surfaces & in some rooms on the walls. The works incorporate Ryan Tews’ photography of the plants referenced in each room name and are collaged with Amanda Wright’s depiction of traditional use of those plants. In some rooms, there are sensory items – clap sticks, bark carvings and a basket – for staff and community to feel and see the plant as it was used. 

The rooms are named as follows. 

  • Bour-deet “bore-deet”, Cumbungi/bullrush, typha latifolia 

  • Karawun “garra-woon”, spiny headed mat rush, lomandra longifolia 

  • Wurun “woo-roon”, manna gum, eucalyptus viminalis 

  • Yerrin, bush 

  • Wulep “woo-lep”, woolly tea tree, leptospermum lanigerum 

  • Parnaryle “PAH nah reel”, river mint, mentha australis 

  • Murnon, yam daisy, microseris lanceolata 

  • Kombadik “gom-ba-dick”, soft tree fern, dicksonia antarctica 

 

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