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Shalom Gamarada Art Exhibition

June 21, 2007 3:29 PM | by metis

The Shalom Gamarada scholarship program is funded by the annual Shalom Gamarada Ngiyani Yana exhibition and sale of work by acclaimed Aboriginal artists. The name of the program comes from the term gamarada ngiyani yana in the Eora language and...

The Shalom Gamarada scholarship program is funded by the annual Shalom Gamarada Ngiyani Yana exhibition and sale of work by acclaimed Aboriginal artists. The name of the program comes from the term gamarada ngiyani yana in the Eora language and is translated literally as friends-walk-we or "We walk together as friends." The word Shalom is a Hebrew word, meaning peace and is part of the name of the Shalom College at UNSW.

The program uses the proceeds from the art sale to fund residential scholarships for Aboriginal students on the campus of the University of New South Wales. Many of the sales over the first two shows (in 2005 and 2006) were made to private purchasers, amongst them, doctors, lawyers and other professionals.

However, the program is also enthusiastically supported by corporate sponsors and individuals, in the management of the actual event, purchase of the artworks, and by the provision of named scholarships in honour of relatives, events or organisations. Each scholarship is valued at $15,000 per year and covers academic tuition and full board at the Shalom College on the university's Kensington campus. Each student awarded a scholarship will have tenure until they complete their degree.

The program sprang from a chance meeting and conversation between Associate Professor Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the School of Public Health and Community Medicines Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, and Ms Ilona Lee, President of The Shalom Institute, on National Sorry Day in 2004. Today, the partnership comprises the UNSW's Shalom College, the Nura Gili Indigenous Programs Unit and the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit.

Through other initiatives, such as a dedicated Indigenous entry into medicine program, UNSW is well on the way to achieving best practice in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous medical students.

"We have not had one single student drop out because of having to work to support themselves or because of the lack of accommodation since this program began two years ago. Today, we have one of the best retention rates of Aboriginal students in the country," says A/Professor Jackson Pulver. "Shalom Gamarada has allowed us to provide appropriate on-campus accommodation and meals to students in a city which is arguably the most expensive in the country," she says. "Not only that, through the sale of their artworks, many of the artists involved in the exhibition are making a deliberate contribution to improvements in Aboriginal health outcomes."

The exhibition will run from 17th – 22nd July 2007 and is set to feature over 100 works by Australia's finest Indigenous artists including Regina Wilson, Paddy Sims, Shorty Robertson, Tjumpo Tjapanangka, Lilly Kelly, Barbara Weir, Gloria Petyarre and poles and bark paintings from the great artists of Yirrikala in Arnhem Land.

 

 

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