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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Tammi Gissell: WILDomestic, n.d.

Lauren Sparkes

inkjet print on paper
Tammi Gissell: WILDomestic, n.d.

Tammi Gissell is a Murruwarri dancer, choreographer and performance theory scholar. In a 2018 article in The Canberra Times Gissell discussed the layered significance of dance in First Nations culture: ‘Everyone dances. But for us it’s not how we dance, or what we dance, but why we dance. In Aboriginal society, knowledge has always been passed from body to body. Dance is a way of making sense of the world. It is the storehouse of our knowledge, and the way we pay respect to our heritage. If knowledge is not passed on, the balance of our world becomes unhinged. Dancing is a matter of survival for Aboriginal culture.’

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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