Call of the clans: In Conversation with Yinimala Gumana

Join Yolŋu leader and artist Yinimala Gumana in conversation with Ashley Perry and Kade McDonald. Yinimala will share Yolŋu perspectives on the University’s Donald Thomson Collection (DTC), including the cultural knowledge and authority it holds, and ongoing questions around access, care, and collaboration in the ethical management of cultural collections.

In June this year, Yinimala curated an on-Country installation of photographs from the DTC as part of the inaugural Dhaḏalal' Festival in Northeast Arnhem Land. The exhibition was the first time these photographs were exhibited in the Homelands and represents the largest-scale Yolŋu engagement with the DTC to date, with approximately 400 Yolŋu community members attending the installation.

Dhaḏalal' Festival was a calling to the north, south, east and west to bring clans together in ceremony. On Wednesday, Yinimala extends this invitation to the people in the room to experience the power and strength of Yolŋu culture and the importance of being on ancestral lands to steward the song and ceremony of the ancestors into future generations. Dhaḏalal' was a bush university that, on this occasion, extends for this evening event, so we too can understand the importance and strength of what the Homelands are about.

The Potter Museum of Art's current exhibition Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the gum tree will be open for extended hours until the talk commences at 5.30pm.

Content warning

Please note that there will be images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are deceased.

Event info and access

• Bookings are required, with capacity limits applying to the event.
• This event will take place in the Primrose Potter Studio on Level 1 of the Potter Museum of Art.
• This event is fully seated with infrared hearing assistance available in this space.
• Auslan interpretation can be booked on request. Please contact mc-publicprograms@unimelb.edu.au
• Please visit our accessibility page for additional information about the Potter Museum of Art.
• For further access requests or queries regarding this event contact mc-publicprograms@unimelb.edu.au

Supporters

This event is supported by the Macgeorge Bequest and FireStarter 2026, Arts Indigenous.