Megan Cope: Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House

Welcome to Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, a 10 day participatory project celebrating local oysters, community collaboration, and environmental stewardship. Internationally acclaimed Quandamooka artist Megan Cope makes living sculptures and public installations that revive ancestral technologies, heal saltwater environments, and share knowledge.

Ngumpi Kinyingarra means 'oyster house' in Cope's Jandai language. For New Annual, Newcastle Art Gallery will present the Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House, a temporary pavilion on the Honeysuckle Marina, to create a place for gathering and learning about the cultural significance of oysters and local histories of Newcastle.

Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will host Megan Cope’s daily 'Scrub Club'. Audiences are invited to roll up their sleeves, to contribute oyster shells for Cope's future oyster reef art projects.

Across the 10 days of New Annual, Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will also be activated by a dynamic program of talks, workshops, performances and music. The program line up to feature local and national artists, oyster experts, knowledge holders, performers, musicians, writers and more. Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House hopes that by centring and honouring the oyster, we can transform our understanding of Country and reinvigorate our deep responsibilities to it.

Ngumpi Kinyingarra Oyster House will be located at Honeysuckle Marina, corner of Workshop Way and Merewether Street, Newcastle.