Yarrkalpa (Hunting Ground) 2013 by Kumpaya Girgirba, Yikartu Bumba, Kanu Nancy Taylor, Ngamaru Bidu, Janice Yuwali Nixon, Reena Rogers, Thelma Judson and Nola Ngalangka Taylor, Martumili Artists © the artists – Image National Museum of Australia
An immersion in the heart of the Aboriginal world, Songlines takes us across the Australian desert on the trail of the Seven Sisters, one of the country’s most popular legendary stories.
For thousands of years, the memory of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples has been passed on through the words of elders, stories told in paintings, ceremonies and songs. Passed down from generation to generation, the songlines guide the Aborigines’ steps across the land and throughout their lives, like a map. Much more than legendary tales, they are true corridors of knowledge, paths traced over the millennia that contain the fundamental rules of social cohabitation as well as ecological, astronomical or geographical knowledge essential to survival.
Built in close collaboration with the communities, Songlines does not simply ‘show’ Aboriginal creative works. Through nearly 200 pieces, created by more than by more than 100 artists, and some twenty immersive devices (audiovisual installations, filmed ceremonial performances, sound narratives, etc.), the exhibition invites visitors to experience an Aboriginal perception of the world by following the story of seven sisters pursued by a powerful sorcerer on earth and in the sky. One of Australia’s most popular epics that the elders, true custodians of memory, have chosen to entrust to us.
Songlines. Tracking the Seven Sisters is an international touring exhibition produced by the National Museum of Australia with the ongoing support of the traditional Aboriginal custodians and knowledge holders of this story.
SOURCE: Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.
SATELLITE EXHIBITION:
Songlines – Arts Hub Centre
4 Apr 2023 to 3 Jul 2023
Embassy of Australia in France, Paris
Poster of Songlines – Chant des pistes du désert australien, Musee du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac