Karrabing Film Collective Exhibition: Indigenous Australian Cinema and Art Exploring Colonial Legacies

This exhibition features the Karrabing Film Collective, a democratic media collective of Indigenous filmmakers from Australia. It explores their multidimensional relationships with their land, ancestors, and the ongoing impacts of colonialism, showcasing their latest film 'Night Fishing with Ancestors' and powerful image-text collages.

The Karrabing Film Collective, a thirty-member Indigenous media collective from Australia's Northern Territory, works democratically to tell their stories across generations. Their films reflect deep connections to their land, ancestors, and the complexities of their lives, including relationships with the Australian government, the legacies of white settler capitalism, and state repression. The name 'karrabing' itself signifies 'low tide,' a time of abundance and accessibility, also representing ancient kinship ties and ecological connections. Their filmmaking is a vital tool for self-determination, knowledge transmission, and strengthening community vision, enabling them to trace the paths of human and non-human ancestors. The collective's artistic manifesto, 'NO STORYBOARD NO SCRIPT WE MAKE OUR FILMS FROM OUR LIFE AND LANDS FOR OUR LIFE AND LANDS,' underscores their approach, developing ideas collaboratively through conversations and filming primarily with iPhones. Their distinctive visual language employs superimpositions and dissolves to represent the multi-layered realities and simultaneous temporalities of their lives. The exhibition highlights their latest film, 'Night Fishing with Ancestors' (2023), which revisits pre-colonial exchange, the trauma of colonization, and contemporary issues like resource extraction and climate change. Wall-filling collages of historical images, maps, and video stills visually articulate ongoing injustices and the struggle for self-determination.

Information on visiting and purchasing tickets for Secession exhibitions can be found via the provided link. General museum opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM, with specific exhibition dates as listed.