YIRRAMBOI, translating to “tomorrow” in the local languages of the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung peoples, is a First Nations festival that relishes in the interconnectedness and diversity of emerging and established creatives, locally, nationally and internationally.
From 4 to 14 May, YIRRAMBOI 2023 takes place in the heart of Naarm/Melbourne, presenting visual art, film, music, performance, poetry, fashion, drag, and workshops by more than 300 First Nations artists across 170 events at forty venues and locations.
Isobel Morphy-Walsh, Untitled, 2022. © the artist. Courtesy the artist and fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
Highlights include Gunga-na Dhum-nganjinu (The Stories We Hold Tightly) – Stationary Observation from Isobel Morphy-Walsh at fortyfivedownstairs. The exhibition visually explores the culturally significant act of passing stories from one generation to another – reflecting on inheriting stories older than recorded time and the fundamental parts of intergenerational oral history tradition. Similarly, I Will Survive by Hayley Millar Baker (Gunditjmara/Djabwurrung), presented by the Metro Tunnel Creative Program in Fed Square, narrates stories of caution, superstition, and survival in the bush; stories and experiences that were passed on to the artist as a child and were perhaps, over time, embellished or accrued heightened emotional resonances, shifting and changing in their constant retelling.
The program extends into performing arts, with Amrita Hepi (Bundjulung/Ngapuhi) presenting A Call to Echo, 2021, a video installation that encourages the viewer to dance from a series of visual prompts – an invitation to use movement to share social connections. While Culture Evolves by Brent Watkins (Gunai Kurnai, Noongar) and Sean Ryan (Kuku Nyunkal) combines traditional dance, hip-hop, and music to explore the historical account of a Gunai Kurnai man travelling from the Bogong Moth ceremonies to 90 Mile Beach in Gippsland.
