<h1 id="shadow-spirit-sky-country-dreamscapes-and-uncovering-histories">Shadow Spirit : Sky Country, Dreamscapes and Uncovering Histories</h1>
Thu 8 June, 6—7PM
This session will focus on the influence of dreams, sky country and the histories hidden that have been illuminated in the exhibition. 
<h3 id="artists">ARTISTS</h3>
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/brian-robinson-tsi-qld">Brian Robinson (TSI/QLD) </a> Maluyligal/ Wuthathi 
With his ability to meld contemporary influences and cultural knowledge he has developed a dynamic aesthetic. His graphic prints and sculptures are known to draw you into with a constellation of details.
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/dylan-mooney-tsi-qld">Dylan Mooney (TSI/QLD)</a> Yuwi / Meriam/ South Sea Islander 
Mooney is influenced by history, culture and family and responds to community stories, current affairs and social media. 
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/judy-watson-qld">Judy Watson (QLD)</a> Waanyi 
Watson’s process evolves by working from site and memory, revealing Indigenous histories, and following lines of emotional and physical topography that centre on particular places and moments in time.
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/hayley-millar-baker-vic">Hayley Millar Baker (VIC)</a> Gunditjmara, Djabwurrung 
Through examining the role our identities play in translating and conveying our experiences, Hayley works across photography, collage, and film to interrogate and abstract autobiographical narratives and themes relating to her own identity. Her oblique storytelling methods encourage us to embrace that the passage of identity, culture, and memory are not linear nor fixed.
<h1 id="shadow-spirit-in-conversation-with-aunty-zeta-thomson">Shadow Spirit : In conversation with Aunty Zeta Thomson</h1>
Fri 9 June, 4—5PM 
For RISING 2023, <a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/aunty-zeta-thomson-vic">Aunty Zeta</a> presents <a href="/festival-program/electric">Spirits Of The Land</a>, a work that shares the belief systems and stories of spirit ecologies that relate to Yorta Yorta and Wurundjeri country. Spirits Of The Land takes you into the stories Aunty Zeta was told as child and the cultural knowledge her elders, including her Grandmother and mother, shared with her and her older siblings. 
Aunty Zeta Thomson is a respected Elder and descendant of the Yarra Yarra Clan of the Wurundjeri people through her father and grandfather, Alexander Briggs. She is a descendant of the Ulupna Clan of the Yorta Yorta people on her mother and grandmother, Teresa (Yarmuk) Clements. A renowned artist, culture teacher and advocate for the rights of Aboriginal prisoners in Victoria, Aunty Zeta retains strong connections to her ancestral homelands. She has had a lifetime involvement in Aboriginal affairs, working at a community level, like many of her family members. She has supported land rights and Aboriginal rights with her family. Aunty Zeta was the first Victorian Aboriginal artist to have work exhibited at Melbourne Museum’s Bunjilaka Gallery. 
Her paintings are inspired by the family stories and her work shares her culture. “Aboriginal art is storytelling; it is inspired by old creation stories”.
<h1 id="shadow-spirit-protecting-country-and-blak-ecofeminism">Shadow Spirit : Protecting Country and Blak Ecofeminism</h1>
Fri 9 June, 6—7PM
In this conversation, hear from the artists of Shadow Spirit and the way in which they responded to the themes, developed their work and expanded ambitious ideas. This session will focus on the underlying themes of ecofeminism from a Sovereign woman perspective and the systems of knowledge explored through the works. 
<h3 id="artists">ARTISTS</h3>
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/karla-dickens-nsw">Karla Dickens (NSW)</a> Wiradjuri 
A careful collector of racially and sexually charged memorabilia, and other found objects, Dickens is a caretaker over material cultures that haunt. Primarily her works investigate her own intersected identities of being Aboriginal, gay and a single mother. 
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/paola-balla-vic">Dr Paola Balla (VIC)</a> Wemba Wemba / Gunditjmara 
Dr Paola Balla is a Wemba Wemba and Gunditjmara woman and acclaimed artist, writer curator and educator. She focuses on Aboriginal women&#39;s stories and resistance with a visual practice, encapsulating research, art, memory and narrative realms. Her work centres Aboriginal women’s voices, activism, Sovereignty, and matriarchy and First Nations ways of being, knowing and doing.
<a href="https://shadow-spirit.rising.melbourne/artists/vicki-couzens-vic">Dr Vicki Couzens (VIC)</a> Keerray Wooroong / Gunditjmara 
Couzens is a distinguished Victorian Aboriginal artist with an interdisciplinary practice, or as she prefers to call it, ‘creative cultural expression’ that includes—painting, installation, visual arts, printmaking, mixed media, performing arts, language, ceremony and teaching—but is best known for her central role in the revival of the possum skin cloak making tradition which began in Victoria and is now established across south-eastern Australia. Vicki has worked in the Aboriginal community for more than 40 years and has played a significant role in not only cultural revival but also in language research and revival and has collaboration and cultural knowledge at the core of her practice.

An Ancestral spirit snake appears to two people on an astral plane, floating in the sky against a setting sun. 

ACMI

*Shadow Spirit* is presented by Metro Trains Melbourne and supported by The Besen Family Foundation, The Robert Salzer Foundation, Canny Quine Foundation, Dashiell Gantner and Anna Foley, The Dara Foundation and Gordon Darling Foundation.  

*Shadow Spirit* is commissioned and produced by RISING.  

Co-commissioned by Illuminate Adelaide.


Thu 8 June, 6—7PM: Sky Country, Dreamscapes and Uncovering Histories 
Fri 9 June, 4—5PM: In Conversation with Aunty Zeta Thompson 
Fri 9 June, 6—7PM: Protecting Country and Blak Ecofeminism

Shadow Spirit Talk Series

Please contact the [ACMI Box Office](https://www.acmi.net.au/plan-your-visit/) for more information about venue access.

## [Watch the venue access video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc05rM6zll8)

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

ACMI is accessible via train, tram and bus.

The museum is located in Fed Square, which is opposite Flinders Street train station, and sits within Melbourne’s Free Tram Zone.

If your journey starts or finishes outside the boundaries of the Free Tram Zone, you must touch on your myki at the reader to make sure you have a valid ticket.

BICYCLES

If you plan to cycle to ACMI, you can lock your bike to purpose-built bicycle racks installed around the perimeter of Fed Square, but you’ll need to bring your own lock. You can’t bring your bike into ACMI itself.

PARKING

There is a Wilson Parking at Fed Square Rooftop. Parking is available at Wilson Parking locations found in and around the CBD. Plan your journey with drive up and online options available, [click here](https://www.wilsonparking.com.au/?entry=05-23-2022,12:23pm&exit=05-23-2022,01:23pm) for details.

Paid parking is available at the Fed Square carpark, located on the Russell Street Extension or via the second entrance off Batman Ave. It's a 2 minute (200m) walk from Fed Square car park to ACMI.

ACCESSIBLE ENTRY

ACMI has two entrances: one on Flinders Street, and the other in Fed Square.

The Flinders Street entrance is easily accessible via a wheelchair ramp. This entrance is closed outside museum opening times. To access ACMI outside these hours, enter via the Fed Square Entrance.

The Fed Square entrance is located in the heart of Fed Square plaza, between Chocolate Buddha and Beer Deluxe. Please be aware that the Fed Square plaza is cobblestoned and may be difficult to navigate for visitors using mobility aids.

To get to the Fed Square entrance from the Flinders Street entrance, you can use the lifts near the end of The Atrium – to the left of Beer Deluxe – to get to the Fed Square plaza level.

LIFTS

A series of lifts (or elevators) offer access to all levels of ACMI.

- __Ground floor – Level 1 access only.__ The Ground floor lift is located between Tickets & Information desk and the entrance to The Story of the Moving Image exhibition.
- __Ground – Level 1 & 2 access.__ This Ground Floor lift is located behind the stairs opposite the bathrooms. You can access it by continuing down the corridor between Tickets & Information desk and the entrance to The Story of the Moving Image exhibition. This lift grants you access to levels 1 and 2.
- __Ground floor – Basement Gallery 4 access.__ A goods lift that allows access to the Underground Gallery 4 is located behind Gallery 2 and 4, via a corridor. Only in use when an exhibition is on view in Gallery 4.
- __Level 1 – Cinemas access.__ here are two lifts located on Level 1. As you enter from Fed Square, one is around the corner on your right, as you pass the Tickets & Information desk and approach the stairs. If you make a hard right towards Hero at ACMI and the Level 1 toilets, you will see the lift. This is the best lift option to reach the Cinemas level (Level 2).
- __Level 1 – Galleries access.__ As you enter from Fed Square, walk past the wall of screens and seating area in front of the wall of cabinets on your left, the lift is located opposite the seating area. This lift provides access to Ground floor, the Galleries level. 
- __Level 2 – Level 1 access.__ The Level 2 Lift services the cinemas. It goes down to Level 1, where you will find the restaurant and bar, Hero at ACMI; and the Labs Level. This lift also provides access to Ground floor, the Galleries level.

ACCESSIBLE BATHROOMS

Toilets are located on Ground floor and Level 1. ACMI has wheelchair accessible toilets on both floors.

Baby change facilities are available near the toilets at the Flinders St (Ground floor) and Fed Square (Level 1) entrances.

COMPANION CARDS

Companion Cards, registered in Victoria and interstate, provide the carers accompanying card holders with free access to ACMI programs.

WHEELCHAIRS

If you use a wheelchair you can access all of their spaces.

If you need to borrow a wheelchair for use inside the Museum, present your ID at the Tickets & Information Desk (located at Ground floor and Level 1 respectively) and we’ll organise one for you free of charge.

GUIDE DOGS

Guide Dogs and registered assistance animals are welcome throughout ACMI. But only registered animals. No pets, please!

HEARING LOOPS

Free hearing devices are available for use in the ACMI Cinemas and Studios and can be borrowed on presentation of ID. Visit the Tickets & Information desks on Level 1 or Ground Floor to arrange. 

The devices come with headphones or connect with hearing aids via a neck loop. You can choose what you prefer.

MOBILITY EQUIPMENT HIRE

Travellers Aid, based at Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations, provides mobility equipment hire, including manual wheelchairs and motorised scooters.

To hire equipment, visit the Travellers Aid website or call 03 9068 8187.

Pre-booked equipment can be collected at Flinders Street station (across the road from Fed Square) or Southern Cross station.


Shadow Spirit Talk Series

Shadow Spirit Artists in Conversation