Exhibition Dates: February 2024 to present

Curator: Dr Liz Bradshaw (Head Curator, December 2022 – March 2024)

Dirty Words: First Nations Languages is an inaugural exhibition presenting contemporary work by First Nations queer writers whose practices foreground language as a site of culture, resistance, and continuity. Developed during the United Nations Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032), the exhibition situates poetry and spoken language within broader histories of sovereignty, identity, and truth-telling.

The exhibition features works by Jazz Money, Daniel Browning, Natalie Harkin, Blake Griffiths, Raelee Lancaster, and essa may ranapiri. Presented as interconnected works, the texts are positioned in dialogue with one another and with visitors to the space.

Through poetry, sound, and written language, Dirty Words documents the enduring power of First Nations languages as tools of expression, connection, and cultural survival.