Artist Interview: Conversation with Ruth Davys

Ruth Davys is a Wiradjuri woman who was raised in Uranquinty and is a senior member of the Albury Wiradjuri community. Davys is an educator, a storyteller, a connector in communities, and an artist. Davys has presented artwork at the Albury LibraryMuseum, at MAMA, and has a permanent installation on the Yindyamarra Cultural Trail.

This interview between Ruth Davys and Alinta Maguire, MAMA First Nations Curator, occurred in April 2026.

Let’s start with Little Ruthie, who appears in both works, Mabinya, Wibiyanha, Wudhagarbinya. and Yamandhu wudhagarbinya? How does she assist you as an educational device in sharing language?

During this very first [Giilangyaldhaanygalang] program to make resources, we thought it was going to be people standing in front of a video camera. But on the night, people didn't want to stand in front of a video camera as themselves. We knew about that and so through our local health service who had auspiced the project, who had also provided the location, we realised that they have some puppets. They had puppets that they were using for another program. That program had kind of sat for a few years and we said, can we use them? They said, yes. So, our participants became puppets and had a ball. We created these resources, as I said. Through that, we also saw the relationship people were having with these puppets. Like kids love puppets, but adults love puppets too. Did you know that? Yeah. So that was when we developed those resources, it was kind of like, ‘what else could we do’? I suppose you've got to be forward thinking. That was one opportunity that had presented itself in the state of NSW for Aboriginal Languages, and this was the beginning. So, what else may be coming? Dr Petina Love and I, at the time were running the business [Giilangyaldhaanygalang] together, she got a ‘Little Petal’, and I got a ‘Little Ruthie’ and they were our cousins. They’d come to town for a visit. We did a trip around Wiradjuri country. There's actually a five-minute video that talks about the road trip with Ruthie and Petal. And that was the beginning for Ruthie.

Little Ruthie is just one component of the work you do through Giilangyaldhaanygalang. Could you speak a little more to this project?

That’s the thing, I don’t think Giilangyaldhaanygalang is a single project but more of an ongoing continuation of the original language initiative I co-founded with Pettina in 2016. Giilangyaldhaanygalang formed through a friendship. It’s (a living resource that is) flexible and adaptable, but it's always around Wiradjuri language, Wiradjuri culture, our heritage, and growing our community. That's what I'm trying to do. I think 10 years ago, there was this story or this narrative that was kind of like “Aboriginal people aren't really here”. You know, “you don't see them, they don't speak their language, they don't practice their culture”. At that same time, I was very connected to my community and the idea and opportunity to learn language was there, Wiradjuri language specifically, through Charles Sturt University. And I jumped at it. I just had my young kids, I'd lost my parents, but I was surrounding myself with community, but also going, ‘well, what else can I do’? We know we're Aboriginal, but how do we express that, I suppose? So, for my kids, it was important, but then it's important for the whole of community. From there, it was around the same time the NSW Aboriginal Languages legislation was passed, they were gathering people and talking about that. The NSW Aboriginal Languages Trust may have just set up as well, and there was an opportunity to actually do a project. The project got some grant funding. That grant funding allowed us to bring back that learning from university and expose our community to that. We had three months of weekly gatherings with up to 30 people, right down to babies, up to 80-year-olds in attendance. It wasn't about coming every week or filling out forms. It was ‘just come and gather’, learn some Wiradjuri language and we might create some resources at the end of it. And it was great because we did create resources at the end of it, and that allowed us to promote free Wiradjuri language resources, which at that time you could see a lot of Wiradjuri, but you couldn't hear a lot of Wiradjuri. So, to have and be part of some resources that are freely available to anybody and everybody, that was pretty exciting. I think the other exciting part about it was that it was our community that did it.

That really speaks to why it’s so significant for MAMA to be exhibiting these works. You’re also reaching new audiences that wouldn't necessarily be exposed to Wiradjuri culture or language.

Yep, I ran into a couple of people down the street, a mum and a daughter, and yeah, they’d heard about programs at MAMA but weren’t really sure because they didn’t know anyone in there and all that sort of stuff. Sometimes you just need to hold someone's hand and get them through the doors. I think we've achieved that a little bit, with these two exhibitions, and I'm hearing lots of preschools are visiting them wanting to come in and do things. That to me says doors have been opened, which is great.

Your exhibitions Mabinya, Wibiyanha, Wudhagarbinya. and Yamandhu wudhagarbinya? weave together your practices as an artist, educator, storyteller and cultural leader. How do you see your work inspiring and advancing First Nations self-determination, cultural stewardship and decolonisation?

Yeah, that's part of what we're doing now. We've just got to be doing our stuff. You know, my parents were born in a time, my grandparents were born in a time where ‘you can't do that, that is against the law’, and, you know, we're going to send you to jail. There were really harsh consequences. We, however, we also grew up with our families being separated and removed because we had a superior people or people believed they were superior. So, it's a time now where we can actually grab each other, hold each other and say, ‘I am proud of who I am, and I want to show you that’. And I think that's what I've done. But I've also done that because I don't have my parents anymore. I don't have my grandparents anymore. I'm the youngest of a very large family and there's only a few of us left. So, for me it was really important to pass this on to my kids, and how do I do that is by doing it. Not just saying “go off and learn your culture”. But for me it was actually being a part of that. And so, I'm one person who has a drive. I know I can achieve things if I set my mind to them. So why wouldn't I open that up to other people who want to be a part of that? So, I suppose a good thing about being an artist or a creator is that I work with people I want to work with. I want to work with people or be with people who have the same mindset and values around growing and reclaiming our places and yeah, being us in our Wiradjuri-ness. Yeah, it's really important that we need to step back and sit and just take some time, like in Mabinya, Wibiyanha, Wudhagarbinya., because we're getting sick, we're getting tired, people are exhausted. And that's not what life should be about. I don't know the meaning to life at all, but you make the most of it while you're here, not run your body into the ground.

Considering how dedicated your work is to Wiradjuri cultural reclamation and language revival, where do you see your work sitting in the context of a national and even global era of Indigenous Language revitalisation?

I think we're sitting somewhere maybe right in the middle of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages so there's a whole global movement that talks about protecting, preserving, maintaining Indigenous languages. I'm one little company here in a language centre here locally, and I think we've got Wiradjuri, non-Wiradjuri, non-Aboriginal people who want to be a part of something bigger than them. There's a lot of people that understand the history of Australia, the displacement of us as a people. And I think that is encouraging people to go, well, if they've got something, how can we be a part of that? I think the other part I'd probably talk about is the fact that NSW is leading the way with legislation, legislation that protects and preserves First Nations languages. They fund programs as well as assistance to language centres. So that is, you know, your state stuff. But I've seen our things, such as ‘Galing’ products, go as far as Texas and Canada. I've just had Aunty Jeanine Leane send me a picture of herself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower wearing a ‘Galing’ shirt. You know, again, the International Decade of Indigenous Languages is happening and that speaks to the whole of the world.

Mabinya, Wibiyanha, Wudhagarbinya. and Yamandhu wudhagarbinya? are part of nginha - here and now, celebrating the commissioning of new art and ideas as a vital part of the Museum’s activities.

All images by Jeremy Weihrauch