Chapter V
Interdependence Tribal Consciousness
Interdependence – A Tribal Consciousness is a Closing the Gap event supported by the Aboriginal Project Officer at Parkes Shire Council.
It is also a reconciliation event supported by the Parkes Reconciliation Group.
Majority of funding for the project has come from Ub Ubbo.
Partners in the project with musical collaboration are Sunfield Records of Parkes.
May 2013
Mr Capati returned to the central west of N.S.W to perform workshops and show his work at the Gulgong Clay Festival.
During his visit Mr Capati and Mr Cassidy, both founding members of Ub Ubbo, discussed the potential of introducing new members to the art group.
Filipino sculptor Mark Venezuela, prominent Singapore clay artist Alvin Tan come to the Gulgong event, and had been following the story of Ub Ubbo for a few years. Mr Venezuela and Tan, both had been working, and exhibiting their art with Ub Ubbo artist for some time.
September 2013
Film making workshop using smart phone, learning to document through film with the 15/15 International Film Festival.
A workshop in the use of household items as film equipment.
October 2013
Music and art exhibition Solidarity at the Mezzanine Café, Forbes.
February 2014
Parkes photographer and photography student, Henry Garriock travelled to Manila for cultural exchange at the University of the Philippines and the Australian Embassy, and then with tribes of the Mountain Province in the northern Philippines.
May 2014
Reconciliation breakfast at GrainCorp sub terminal, Mugincoble.
June 2014
A fund raiser, music concert and indigenous art exhibition, Interdependence and Solidarity, at the Gaelic Club, Surry Hills.
July 2014
Henry Garriock and Sean James Cassidy work with an indigenous film crew in the Philippines Mountain Province, collaborating to document work of artists aligned to Ub Ubbo. August 2014
Sean James Cassidy taught at Parkes Public School and Holy Family Primary on an art project themed around Closing The Gap, and Reconciliation.
February 2015
At Parkes Shire Library a celebration of all events under the Interdependence-A Tribal Consciousness umbrella.
Following the opening of the exhibition at the library, there will be a luncheon at the Reconciliation Park at 12.30pm.
Chapter Five: Interdependence Tribal Consciousness
In September 2012, Ub Ubbo artists Scott Turnbull, Sauce Towney and Sean James Cassidy met international film festival group ‘15/15’, who were working alongside other art groups in Central Western NSW.
The two groups planned a collaboration that would involve taking Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from Australia to work in the Philippines.
Ub Ubbo began working with the band 'Dusty Yellow Sunbeams', who are the founders of Parkes-based recording studio ‘Sunfield Records’.
Sunfield Records Producer Jason ‘Nacho' Murchie and Ub Ubbo started planning a collaboration of music and art, which would take place in the Philippines.
Projects with other art groups - autumn and winter 2013
Director of 15/15, Armedeo Marcus Perez, taught screenwriting to members of Ub Ubbo and Sunfield Records, which resulted in the producing a short film in claymation. (needs date)
Dustin Howarth, who had previously worked on films such as Star Wars, Mission Impossible and Superman, taught members how to make DIY film equipment, including shoulder rigs made from PVC pipes. This tied in with Ub Ubbo's philosophy of resourcefulness and using unique creative approaches to bypass limitations. Ub Ubbo plans to share this knowledge of creating DIY film equipment with artists in the Philippines and in rural areas of Australia.
Ub Ubbo conducted art classes at Parkes at Holy Family Primary School in October 2013. The students had an opportunity to learn from Ub Ubbo artist Sean James Cassidy, a Holy Family alumnus.
During the same month, Ub Ubbo, Sunfield Records and 15/15 collaborated on an event hosted by the Mezzanine Coffee House in Forbes, featuring art, musical performance, and films produced by the groups. The event was called ‘Solidarity’ to acknowledge the continuing strong relationship between the groups.
Henri Garriock became acquainted with Ub Ubbo through his work as a photographer for Sunfield Records. He joined Ub Ubbo in February 2014 and took part in a cultural exchange to Mountain Province, Philippines, where the Ub Ubbo cultural centre is located. Henri spent time with the Northern Kankanaey tribe and worked with archaeologists in Manilla.
Ub Ubbo organised a ‘Closing the Gap’ reconciliatory breakfast in May 2014. The event was held at the Parkes GrainCorp site and was supported by GrainCorp, the Parkes Reconciliation Group, the Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group, the Parkes Aboriginal Community Working Party, and the Aboriginal Project Officer. Films and music by Ub Ubbo and Sunfield Records were featured at the breakfast to celebrate the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous people of both Australia and the Philippines.
Henri Garriock organised a concert and exhibition at the Gaelic Club in Surrey Hills, Sydney called ‘Interdependence and Solidarity’. The event, which took place in June 2014, served as a fundraiser for Sunfield Records to finance the purchasing of recording equipment which was more suitable for use in remote, unenclosed areas.
Sean James Cassidy and Henri Garriock set up a cultural exchange to the Philippines for Sydney artist Gemma King in July 2014. Gemma and Ub Ubbo collaborated with El Jurah Studio, an indigenous film crew based in Baguio, to produce a short documentary on clay artist Lope Bosaing about his life, craft and belief in the future direction of Ub Ubbo. A second documentary was produced on the weaving artist Edward Tumbiac.
Ub Ubbo began collaborating with the Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group and Sunfield Records in September 2014 to create a song and film clip in the Wiradjuri Language. The song featured modern instruments and the film clip included modern takes on traditional Wiradjuri iconographies.
Ub Ubbo returned to Parkes and once again worked with students of Holy Family Primary School and Parkes Public Primary School. The student’s artwork was exhibited alongside the work of Ub Ubbo artists on February 14, 2015. The theme of the exhibition was ‘Interdependence Tribal Consciousness’ – ‘interdependence’ being the agreement to utilise each others talents in a respectful and mutually beneficial way, and ‘Tribal Consciousness’ meaning our concept of collective memory.
