Photographer and film-maker Hayley Millar Baker is the recipient of the Collingwood Yards First Nations Studio Residency, announced by the Collingwood Yards First Peoples’ Reference Group. Hayley Millar Baker is a First Nations woman and research-based artist who uses modes of photography and film to interrogate the way memories are made through acts of remembering and misremembering. She reflects upon the potential for recollections and accounts to become improvised and embellished. Millar Baker explores human experiences through a narrative-guided lens that is non-exclusive and non-linear. Hayley is represented by the Vivien Anderson Gallery. Hayley’s work can be viewed at www.hayleymillarbaker.com
This announcement marks the second year of The Collingwood Yards First Nations Studio Residency. Much loved elder, author, and artist Uncle Jack Charles was the inaugural studio Resident in 2020/21, and has since joined the permanent studio community. The First Nations Studio is an initiative of the Collingwood Yards First Peoples Reference Group, an advisory group composed of Board Directors, tenants and sector experts who identify as First Peoples alongside Traditional Owners of the site.
The Expressions of Interest call out attracted an incredible response - more than 25 high quality applications were received across diverse disciplines from a field of experienced and exciting talents. The applications were assessed by representatives from the Collingwood Yards First Peoples Reference Group, tenants Tony Briggs and Moorina Bonini and Board Director Eugenia Flynn. Actor, director and writer Tony Briggs said “Hayley is a prime example of why it’s imperative that Collingwood Yards, and similar establishments, provide workspaces for our Indigenous artists to flourish. Artists such as Haley are the very fabric of Melbourne’s international reputation as the arts capital of Australia. We are proud to support her.”