Era of The Elders (with Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation), 2023
Radio / Podcast Series and site specific installation, 41’07”
Autostrada Biennale, Kosovo, 2023
Ngaarda Radio, 2023
Online via Juluwarlu Media / Spotify, 2023
***This work may contain the names and voices of people who may have recently passed away, it is made available with the permission of Yindjibarndi elders. We pay our respects to the elders of the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi nations whose land this work was produced on.blohblog
Stanley Warrie reads from the biography of his father Yilbie Warrie founder of the independent Indigenous community of Cheeditha in the North-Western Australia, 2022.
The Era of the Elders features current generations of Yindjibarndi people (an Indigenous people of the Australian North-West) reading narratives from a generation of elders who have passed away. Era details the struggles this generation faced in order to survive and continue their culture, and pave the way for their successful native title ruling in 2021.
Spoken in the first person, and with occasional interruptions and commentary, the slippages and resonances between the issues faced by the previous and current generation tells of a living history still in the making. Made at the request of Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation and realised with the help of Ngaarda Media and Spaced WA this sound work functions as both an educational resource and active engagement with a community’s past. It is intended both for gallery installation and radio broadcast, serving as an artwork and a resource for The Yindjibarndi community.
The installation version of this work, originally in the studios of Radio Prizreni, Kosovo utilized collage materials gleaned from Ngaarda radio in the Pilbara to recreate and transplant the working spaces of audio workers in two vastly different contexts.
Era of the Elders, install image, Autostrade Biennale, Kosovo, 2023.
Narrated by Wendy Hubert & featuring the voices of:
Ashton Cheedy
Maisie Indjie
Kevin Gilby
Jane Cheedy
Middleton Cheedy
Lorraine Coppin
Michael Woodley
Stanley Warrie
Hayden Woodley
Alan Mack
Denzel Jacob
Alison Woodley
Wade Walker
Wimiya Woodley
Monique Mckenzie
Sharon Warrie
Marion Cheedy
Theme: Buluru Ngurra (traditional, Yindjibarndi) performed by Michael Woodley with additional production by Nathan Gray.
Special thanks to Vicki Webb and Lorraine Coppin.