Parrtjima festival shining light on First Nations art and culture

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hundreds of Northern Territory locals and tourists have enjoyed the first weekend of Parrtjima, the festival that literally puts the work of First Nations artists up in lights. It’s a milestone year for the decade-old celebration, drawn heavy-hitters of the nation’s arts and culture scene.

Transcript

00:00Hundreds of kilometres away from his Western Desert homeland, Bobby West Djuparula has

00:08brought its sand dunes to Alice Springs.

00:11A descendant of the trailblazing Papunya artists who popularise dot paintings worldwide, in

00:17this piece he's painting with light.

00:21In this track here, I made it from sand dunes and it's shaped like a, under the ground,

00:31shaped like this.

00:33Mr Djuparula's work is one of six installations showcasing First Nations creatives.

00:41With music, panel discussions and installations, artists are encouraged to push the boundaries,

00:47using new technologies to tell the stories that shaped them.

00:51For Balangara and Yolngu artist Molly Hunt, that means animating the Indigenous stock

00:57women who formed the backbone of life in her Kimberley home.

01:01This story in particular, it's a life harder story that shows how strong and staunch black

01:08women are, so this is very much a praise black women animation.

01:12With help on the soundtrack from actor and composer Mark Cole-Smith.

01:17Her ideas collided with my ideas and I think it works.

01:21I would say it's a very smooth journey.

01:23I think, you know, you put two Kimberley people together, you're going to make magic.

01:27Welcome to Batima.

01:29The festival, an invitation for non-Indigenous Australians to engage with Indigenous cultures.

01:35People that are Aboriginal, they don't realise we've still got our culture and it's still

01:41so important to us, even today.

01:44Here, artists have been giving live sand painting demonstrations and inviting others to trial

01:49the technique too.

01:50Just one of the ways in which you're not only invited to observe the art, but also engage

01:55with it.

01:56I just love the community vibe.

01:58I've loved all the different instalments.

02:01The festival closes on Sunday night.

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