As part of NM TAFE’s NAIDOC celebrations I participated in an exhibition focused on the 2024 theme, Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud & Proud, with Simone Penny, Jade Penny and Tim Ewers. It was heaps of fun. Experimental. Authentic. Just the right thing at the right time!

Simone undertook a residency at The Perth Letterpress Workshop and is working towards an exhibition at the Shopfront Gallery at NM TAFE in November 2024.

Simone reflects:

“I venture into the unexplored medium embracing the rich and intricate world of fonts, words, and design. This journey reflects my continuous exploration and reverence for the power of language and its visual representation through culture, embracing the NAIDOC theme – Keep the Fires burning, Black Loud and Proud. It is a time for healing, moving forward and being proud.

This project is a celebration of the familiar, the spoken, the seen and the felt, using written words from our history, our language, not written but spoken from generation to generation. Through this exploration, I strive to push the boundaries of what letterpress can achieve and to be able to voice cultural platforms. I have been working with my daughter Jade Penny, colleagues Tim Ewers and Brendan Hibbert.

In addition to this letterpress exhibition, there are two images of women being our Ancestors – title: Nedingar holding a flame of fire, reminding us to carry the fire within us, to heal, to hold on to our spirit to be proud, and to move forward embracing our culture within.” 

Simone Penny, Artist.