( ) // Signal: Begin with a scene   of a faded colonial signal    —road sign, farm fence, fuzzy    radio broadcast, oxidised inscription.    How does this signal connect you to the past?                     What phantom dispatches does it relay                —impossible testimony—what orders make    flesh reverb // are they written? Exhumation in brown // red: Imagine the process  […]

CIRCULAR / LINEAR / TIME  In Te Ao Māori, time is cyclical: both the beginning and end are part of the same phenomenon. The past, present and future are experienced simultaneously. The whakatauki (proverb)‘Ka mua, ka muri’ is the idea that we walk backwards into the future. It tells us that we must look to […]

Dhyakiyarr vs The King Wally Wilfred’s sculpture Dhyakiyarr vs The King delves into the story of Dhakiyarr, a respected Balamumu leader from north-east Arnhem Land. In 1932, five Japanese and two white trepangers were speared at Woodah Island in Blue Mud Bay. The fishermen had violated territorial rights, threatened local people with guns and raped […]

In 1911, during the wet season, Northern Territory police officer Constable Johns arrested Ayaiga, also known as ‘Neighbour’ and three other Aboriginal men accused of robbing a white man’s hut. Johns shackled the four prisoners and they began the 32-kilometre journey to Roper Bar Police Station on foot, escorted by Johns on horseback. Arriving at […]

Between the subjugation and indifference of colonial governance, Ngurungaeta, William Barak leads the Wurundjeri people in a sustained decolonising movement, seeking land-rights at Coranderrk. They petition ministers, writing letters and walking to Melbourne to protest directly to the Premier. is goes on in the face of dispossession. And, in 1881 there is a rupture in […]