Yearning to Yarn Exhibition

Friday, 30 November 2018

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Yearning to Yarn is an initiative using Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning to support clinical placement experiences of Aboriginal health professional students. Created by Simon Munro, the Yearning to Yarn exhibition is on display at the Senta Taft-Hendry Museum, located under the University Gallery, now and into 2019.

A collection of beautifully crafted tools and objects form Yearning to Yarn. Using ‘Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning’ helps to support clinical placement experiences of Aboriginal health professional students and demonstrates the relevance of the 'old ways' to contemporary life and art.

Simon Munro, UON's Indigenous Health Project Officer, is chief investigator of the project and also takes on the mantle of curator and lead artist. The Yearning to Yarn project is funded as a ETEHE initiative through the University of Newcastle's Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education. The overseeing mentor for the project is Professor Penny-Jane Bourke.

Yearning to yarn for teaching for equity explores using Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning to support Aboriginal health professional students while on their rural clinical placement with University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine in Tamworth NSW. Establishing a framework branching from the notion and deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning through yarning has been integral to informing educators to teach for equity when engaging with Aboriginal students. Through yarning this project established understanding of the importance of Aboriginal students' cultural, social and emotional experiences in teaching practice. Methodological approaches of collaborative dialogical inquiry with a lens of appreciative inquiry was used to grapple with both student and educator experiences and perceptions of each other to bring about new ways of knowing and learning within the educational space.

The exhibition in the museum will continue into 2019.

For more information please email universitygallery@newcastle.edu.au

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