Page is talking about her take on Aboriginal culture, a whirlpool of urban upbringing and a deeply felt spiritual legacy. But she could just as easily be describing the impetus behind the new permanent gallery she has designed at the Powerhouse Museum. Page, who hails from the Tharawal people of La Perouse, is a prime example of a thoroughly modern Koori. Articulate and opinionated, she is one of a trio, along with Dillon Kombumerrie and Kevin O'Brien, who make up the award-winning Merrima Aboriginal Design Unit. With her degree in interior design from UTS, Page was the perfect choice to create an exhibition space that challenges prejudices about indigenous culture and radically updates our notion of Aboriginality.
People are still stuck in the idea of Aboriginal culture as dot paintings and red earth.
Perspex and aluminium give the sinuous, winding display cases a weightlessness. The ceiling is covered in a rubber latex film called Barisol, a mirror-like material that makes the halogen pin lights twinkle like stars. The shiny surface reflects an intangible image that speaks of other worlds and spirits. The flow of the space has an undulating rhythm, not unlike the backbone of a snake, but Page has deliberately shied away from making the floor plan anthropomorphic. I didn't make it in the shape of an animal because that would play back to the stereotyping of our culture.