Kyra Mancktelow is a Ngugi, Nunukul woman of Minjerribah and Mulgumpin descent through her father’s line‚ two of three clans who are the traditional custodians of Quandamooka, also known as Yoolooburrabee, the people of the sand and sea. Through her mother’s ancestry, she has connections to the Mardigan people of Cunnamulla and South Sea Islanders, Vanuatu. Mancktelow’s practice investigates legacies of colonialism, posing questions of how we remember and acknowledge Indigenous histories. Mancktelow shares her rich heritage, stories, and traditions to educate audiences on Australian history and her culture.
Sitting Down Place challenges the archival records concerning the Indigenous people of Moongalba, also known as Myora mission. Government policy forbade traditional practices and enforced the introduction of colonial uniforms. The Indigenous people of Moongalba embodied cultural resilience by retaining knowledge, beliefs, and traditional ways of life. In 1896 the Myora Mission became a reformatory school used for cheap labour. Mancktelow’s research focuses on this period and the clothes the community were forced to wear. Through artmaking, research, and yarning with Moongalba descendants and Elders, Mancktelow focuses on maintaining traditional ways of making passed down by the Elders, the Moongalba Grannies. By recreating the uniforms and the Grannies’ dresses using traditional methods, Mancktelow emphasises the critical urgency of truth-telling, understanding, and healing as a nation.
