House of Mother Tongue, House of Other Tongue: Language & Community Symposium

Hoang Tran Nguyen is an artist working in social practice to address overlapping cultural histories and politics of place. His work has featured in self initiated projects (Bilo Artspace, 2001), arts festivals (Due West 2019, Big West 2013, Next Wave 2004) and galleries (ACCA 2021, Buxton Contemporary 2019, The Substation 2013). He is currently a PhD candidate at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne).

Community group ViệtSpeak was formed in late 2020 to advocate for Vietnamese language education in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Composed of volunteer parents, educators, artists and researchers, ViệtSpeak was a response to the axing of the Vietnamese Bilingual Program at Footscray Primary School earlier in the year. This was despite a parent-led campaign garnering significant community support. Since forming the group, ViệtSpeak has worked to bring language advocacy across educational and social contexts, including public forums, podcasting and research. In 2023, the group will help launch a new Vietnamese bilingual kinder program in Braybrook as part of an Australian Research Council linkage project.

Vicki is Gunditjmara from the Western Districts of Victoria. She acknowledges her ancestors and elders who guide her work. Dr Couzens has worked in Aboriginal community affairs for almost 40 years. Her contributions in the reclamation, regeneration and revitalisation of cultural knowledge and practice extend across the ‘arts and creative cultural expression’ spectrum including language revitalisation, ceremony, community arts, public art, visual and performing arts, and writing. She is a Senior Knowledge Custodian for Possum Skin Cloak Story and Language Reclamation and Revival in her Keerray Woorroong Mother Tongue.

Vicki is employed at RMIT as a Vice Chancellors Indigenous Research Fellow developing her Project ‘watnanda koong meerreeng, tyama-ngan malayeetoo (together body and country, we know long time)’. The key objective of this Project is to produce model/s, pathways and resources for continuing the reinvigoration of Aboriginal Ways of Knowing Being and Doing with a special focus on language revitalisation.

Lana Nguyen is interested in community collaborations and relational projects that speak to the places of which we are a part. Through putting her energy into collaborating, curating and supporting creative practice, she works to create spaces of exchange and learning to shape our collective culture and needs.