Protest and Resistance: Helena Gulash, Les Malezer and Bob Weatherall
11am Saturday 20 April
UniSC Art Gallery

Join us at the Embassy* for a discussion about fighting colonial occupation on the front lines.

Using the Brisbane Commonwealth Games land rights protests of 1982 and Richard Bell’s painting Kessel Road Protest 2022 as a starting point, our panel will discuss the history, legacy and future of collective protest and resistance.

Panellists include Helena Gulash, Les Malezer and Bob Weatherall.

Helena Gulash is a Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) woman with strategic leadership experience from her extensive work in First Nations affair within Government and Community. An active advocate for Indigenous community cultural development on the Sunshine Coast, Helena is passionate about the potential for the dynamic Indigenous Arts and cultural industry to stimulate positive change for First Nations peoples.

Les Malezer (Gubbi Gubbi and Butchulla) is a retired chairperson of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) and a longtime advocate for the promotion of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. Malezer worked with the Global Indigenous Peoples Caucus to advance the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples through the final stages to the UN General Assembly in 2007. He is also a former Expert Member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2017-2019) and a former Cultural Survival board member.

Bob Weatherall (Kamilaroi) is currently the chair of the Centre for Indigenous Cultural Policy in Meanjin (Brisbane) and a pivotal figure in advocating for cultural rights, cultural education and the repatriation of ancestors and cultural material. He had a lead role in establishing the Tent City in Musgrave Park in 1982 when Brisbane hosted the Commonwealth Games. In 2023, Bob was the recipient of a Red Ochre Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement.

*This discussion will be held in Richard Bell's Embassy, an itinerant roving embassy made in homage to the audacity and strength of the first Aboriginal Tent Embassy pitched on the grounds of Parliament House, Canberra in 1972.

Presented for OCCURRENT AFFAIR, a UQ Art Museum exhibition touring with Museums & Galleries of NSW. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.

Image
Installation view of Richard Bell Kessel Road Protest 2022. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin (Brisbane). Photo: Carl Warner

Event photography
This event will be photographed. Photos taken may be reproduced by UniSC online and in print. Please speak with staff at the event if you do not wish to be photographed.