Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali Receives IMAGinE Award
On Wednesday 26 November, the Northern Rivers exhibition, Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali, received the IMAGinE Award for Exhibition Projects – Galleries (Medium), a statewide recognition of excellence presented by Museums & Galleries of NSW.
The IMAGinE Awards shine a spotlight on the most innovative and impactful projects in NSW’s Museum and gallery sector. Winning this acknowledges not only the artistic excellence of Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali but also its role in strengthening cultural identity and community connection through the return of ancestral woven objects to Bundjalung Country and the revitalisation of weaving traditions across the Northern Rivers.
Curated by Bundjalung artist Kylie Caldwell and presented by Arts Northern Rivers, the exhibition toured three major regional galleries—Grafton Regional Gallery, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, and Lismore Regional Gallery—through 2024 and 2025. It marked the culmination of years of community-led work to reclaim and renew women’s weaving knowledge on Country.
“These exhibitions have been developed through culturally inclusive responsiveness. Their significance highlights how cross-cultural partnerships help to redress detrimental colonial historical impacts and build upon local First Nations knowledge systems, experience, and aspirations. Furthermore, they weave connections, offering pride and appreciation, and rethread the past to the present. A gift to the community that keeps giving—at this very moment, repatriation of a number of weaving items is in progress, one locally collected and another internationally.”
– Kylie Caldwell, Curator
At its heart were eleven intricately coiled and twined bags made by Bundjalung women in the late 19th century, collected from the banks of the Richmond and Clarence Rivers between 1875 and 1895. Held by the Australian Museum since 1879, these objects returned to Country for the first time in over a century, offering communities a deeply significant moment of reconnection.
In response, contemporary Bundjalung artists created works that revive and extend traditional weaving practices. Several are direct descendants of the original makers, weaving together stories of resilience, memory, and cultural continuity across generations.
The exhibition featured works by Bindimu, Casino Wake Up Time, Janelle Duncan, Madeleine Grace, Lauren Jarrett, Tania Marlowe, Bianca Monaghan, Krystal Randall, Rhoda Roberts AO, Kyra Togo, and Margaret Torrens. Each piece carried profound cultural meaning, from Bindimu’s Dili, honouring the sacred relationship between plant and place, to Margaret Torrens’ Place of Tall Pines, celebrating family histories at Mallanganee.
“Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali Exhibition shows how region-led, collaborative exhibition development can be pioneering and profound. Grafton Regional Gallery (GRG) is privileged and proud to maintain longstanding community and professional relationships with many of the artists involved and to see their works come together in such a resounding exhibition. GRG was honoured to be the gallery space where the nine ancestral woven objects, held in the Australian Museum collection, were welcomed back to Country for the first time.” – Jane Kreis, Director, Grafton Regional Gallery
Community was central to Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali. At each venue—Grafton, Tweed, and Lismore—Elders led cultural ceremonies to welcome the ancestral bags home, creating a deeply significant moment of reconnection for Bundjalung and wider communities. Audiences engaged directly with Bundjalung’s rich cultural heritage through hands-on weaving workshops, while Bundjalung women affirmed their enduring role as knowledge holders and innovators.
“It was an honour present this extraordinary exhibition at the Tweed Regional Gallery. This award is recognition of both the significance of the exhibition and the tremendous collaboration that contributed to it’s success. Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali Exhibition in the Tweed created new conversations and community connections that remain with us moving forward. We were thrilled to be a part of this project.” – Ingrid Hedgcock, Director, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre
The exhibition grew from the acclaimed book Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali … we weave together by Rhoda Roberts AO and Kylie Caldwell, which documents Elder knowledge, plant use, harvesting practices, and weaving traditions, and inspired the idea for a touring show. Together, the book and exhibition share and retell histories of First Nations weaving artistry, interweaving diverse stories across generations while honouring ancient culture and its continuity today.
“Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali Exhibition was highly anticipated in our 2025 program. It was enormously rewarding for the LRG team to work with guest curator Kylie Caldwell and Arts Northern Rivers on an exhibition so deeply grounded in Country and Culture. Sharing Bundjalung ancestral baskets from the Australian Museum collection, on loan for the first time in our region, brought to the surface a combination of joy and grief, and was invaluable for First Nations Community. Displaying the ancestral baskets with contemporary weaving resulted in a powerful statement of resilience; a message of strength, exemplifying the survival and continuum of cultural practices despite centuries of oppression.” – Ineke Dane, Curator, Lismore Regional Gallery
This IMAGinE Award is a proud moment for the Northern Rivers. It recognises the strength of community-led, Country-centred projects and the power of cultural reclamation. Bulaan Buruugaa Ngali stands as a model for how regional galleries and communities can collaborate to honour and strengthen First Nations culture.
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