Lennie Hayes

Clan Gunaikurnai – Bidawal

Lennie is highly and widely respected within the Lakes Entrance community for his leadership, and his work with disengaged Aboriginal youth in particular. Lennie was the Cultural Liaison Officer on 2007’s Common Ground, a massive cross-cultural project that brought black and white communities together in a powerful show of reconciliation; Koori families that had not spoken for decades buried their disputes. In 2009, Lennie was lead artist and cultural advisor for Spirit Poles and Camp Fire-Water Hole, culminating in the first permanent, public Gunai/Kurnai art work since white settlement. Lennie collaborated on Fire Place as part of the major statewide Regional Arts Victoria project Illuminated by Fire exhibited at Federation Square Melbourne in 2011. In 2012 Lennie was awarded the Victorian Indigenous Art Award by Regional Arts Victoria. He is currently a lead artist with the Indigenous Cultural Expressions Commission to make Gunyah a movable art space.