Belong: Language connecting feeling, culture, country
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Free exhibition
Experience a culturally rich multimedia exhibition like no other.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are many and diverse. Several have been lost. Others are gaining strength. This exhibition reminds us of how language is so intrinsically linked to culture and wellbeing, and why care of endangered languages is so important.
Through intimate portraits, immersive soundscapes and evocative visual storytelling, artist Martine Perret and composer Johnathan Mustard invite you to explore their richness, the importance of preservation and the natural flow of cultural knowledge across generations.
Presented in celebration of the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032), Belong unfolds across three interconnected installations. Featuring Ngala Wongga (Come Talk), and Juruyinku Kujuyinkuya (Connection), along with new collaboration Transference, each illuminates the voices, stories, and enduring strength of Aboriginal languages, and of the people who keep them alive.
Step inside. Listen. Feel the enduring power of language.
In this exhibition
Come and experience an exhibition that provokes us to explore and understand the language connecting feeling, culture, and country including:
Ngala Wongga (Come Talk) – Hear stories and songs from some of the last remaining speakers of over nine different languages from the Goldfields of Western Australia. Learn of their connection to land and culture in this sensorial installation – see floating layers of tulle fabric projecting exquisite video and rare audio of Aboriginal Elders sharing stories and songs.
Juruyinku Kujuyinkuya (Connection in Tjupan) – Step into a sensory space as Elder, Edie Ulrich combines traditional painting and sound. Become immersed in expressions of the language of emotion in Tjupan language.
Transference – Explore intergenerational sharing of stories, knowledge and culture. Part of the artist's continuing collaboration and consultation with indigenous elders from the goldfields, Perret investigates the universal idea that everything is connected, and how the memory of the land intrinsically passes through and between us.
Martine Perret
Martine Perret is a photographic artist who was born in Paris, and now works and lives in Margaret River, Western Australia. Known for her startlingly beautiful portrayal of the Western Australian landscape, she uses aerial photography and portraiture to tell important stories of our times.
Martine’s approach to her artistic work is based on a career in photojournalism, including 10 years covering United Nations peacekeeping missions in conflict zones in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Timor-Leste. During her time in West Africa, Martine documented the Ebola crisis.
Her recent projects Ngala Wongga (Come Talk) – Cultural Significance of Languages in the Goldfields and Belong – Language connecting feeling, culture, country highlight the importance of First Nations' languages and exemplify Martine’s approach to storytelling.
Martine’s immersive gallery installations feature her signature aerial landscapes, portraits and soundscapes.
Website: Martine Perret Photography
Jonathan Mustard
For the last 30 years, Jonathan Mustard has been one of Perth's most innovative composers writing mixed media works for theatre, dance, concert and stage. A large part of his output over the last decade has been music for dance, most notably with renowned WA choreographer, Chrissie Parrott.
Since the early 2000s, he has developed a practice in video and animation. Through his collaboration with Parrott, and more recently with photographer, Martine Perret, he has extended his work in this medium, providing virtual sets, lighting design elements and installations for performance and gallery environments in tandem with creating original music and sound designs.
Images © Martine Perret
