'Our Ancestors live on through our cultural objects. Embedded into the creation of these objects exists a connection to our song lines, mobs and Countries.'
- Jody Rallah
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Photography: Jim Films and Lauren Hogg
Jody Rallah is a yuggera/yugggerabul and biri/bindal artist from Brisbane whose diverse practice encompasses object making and painting, sculptural installation, facade and thoroughfares, soundscape, and collaborative practices. She creates “knowledge vessels” that embody living histories, bridging generational gaps and fostering conversations.
She investigates how the aliveness of place is encoded in memory spaces, relationships and haptic processes. Through the art-making process, Rallah embeds narratives that echo Country, explores identity, and addresses the contemporary conditions that can influence our relationships with Country and each other.
Rallah is passionate about re-embedding First Nations knowledge spaces back into the built environment by collaborating with Elders and organisations, to create spaces and vessels that are inviting and alive with movement, memory, and narratives.
Some of Rallah’s current and upcoming projects include; Following Paperbarks a 15.5m recycled aluminium panel facade at Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. Various public art projects are currently in production which include, thoroughfares, place markers, and facades. Rallah recently undertook a residency program with the Museum of Brisbane (MOB) participating in Clay, where the artist produced an ephemeral 22m wall installation. Rallah’s work is currently on tour as a part of Drawn by Stones exhibition, a nationally touring exhibition commissioned by 4A Gallery of Asian Arts, Sydney,
Rallah graduated with a Bachelor in Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art (CAIA) from the Queensland Collage of Art - Griffith University in 2019. In 2020 Rallah participated in Hatched National Graduate Exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) as one of twenty-four artists selected Nationwide. In 2021 she held a solo exhibition at Milani Carpark Gallery. Rallah debuted her work Guides the in Brisbane City Centre as a part of the Indigenous Art Program - Outstanding 2022. She has been a panelist for the QLD Museum during the World Science Festival, Apmere Mparntwe - Australian Ceramics Triennial, Australian Ceramics Journal, Sculptors QLD, UNSW Art and Design and 4A Clay Foundations and more.
I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I work. I pay respect to all Elders—past, present, and emerging. I acknowledge First Nations continuing connections to land, waters, sky, song, and diverse communities.