Performing Country: Art from the Tiwi Islands

My project explores the ways in which Indigenous Australian artists from the Tiwi Islands invoke ceremonial performance in their artistic practices. Pedro Wonaeamirri, an artist working at Jilamara Arts & Crafts Association, won the Telstra Award in Multimedia for his 2021 piece titled Jilarti (Brolga). This work includes a sculptural element, ceremonial objects made by Wonaeamirri, and a video element, a film of Wonaeamirri performing ceremony with these objects. Through a visit to Jilamara, I will research how Wonaeamirri and other Tiwi artists are preserving ceremony by innovatively transforming and adapting it to new media.