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Nyarri Nyarri Morgan: Virtual Reality, History and Indigenous Experience

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Event Status

Nyarri Nyarri Morgan is a Martu man from the Western Desert who lives in the remote Parnngurr Community of Western Australia. He lived his early life with no knowledge of or contact with western culture. Then, in the 1950s, he witnessed first hand – and with no warning or context – an atomic test held by the British government in the South Australian desert.

It was an experience that had a profound impact on Morgan and, half a century later, led him into a collaboration with a Sydney-based immersive technology artist and director, Lynette Wallworth. His story is now the subject of a virtual reality film, Collisions, which Wallworth directed.

Collisions drops audiences right in the middle of the Pilbara desert – home of Morgan and of the Martu people. This conversation at ACMI will take Morgan’s experience filming Collisions as a starting point for a broader discussion of the issues facing the Martu people in this remote region of Western Australia. Joined by Wallworth, Nyarri’s wife Nola and young filmmaker and Martu leader Curtis Taylor, Morgan will speak about his life, his work as an artist and the fate of the Martu people since the actions in Collisions took place.

An activist elder who has seen his community through some dramatic changes, a speaker of seven Western Desert languages, an artist whose work has been exhibited across the world and whose story is now being shared through virtual reality – meet this extraordinary Australian and his family for a discussion of culture, contention, creativity and collaboration.

Presented in partnership with the ACMI and Melbourne Festival.

Featuring

Nyarri Nyarri Morgan

Nyarri Nyarri Morgan is a senior Martu elder, leader and artist whose works have been exhibited in Australia, Europe, and the United States. Nyarri speaks seven Western Desert languages. Nyarri was born Myirr Myirr and walked around with his family in the desert of the tri-state area until 1963 when... Read more

Ngalangka Nola Taylor

Nola was born on the western side of Lake Percival. She and her family travelled to Karlamilyi and Parnngurr, and in the 1960s, her uncle brought them to Balfour Downs Station; the station manager took them to Jigalong. Nola moved to Parnngurr when the community was established in 1985. She is a pai... Read more

Curtis Taylor
Curtis Taylor

Curtis Taylor hails from Parnngurr Community, located 400km east of Newman, Western Australia. Curtis is a filmmaker, screen artist and a young Martu leader. Growing up in the remote Martu desert communities and in the city, Curtis has gained both traditional Martu knowledge and a Western education.... Read more

Lynette Wallworth

Lynette Wallworth is a multiple Emmy® Award-winning Australian artist and filmmaker whose immersive video installations and film works reflect on the connections between people and the natural world. She has been awarded a UNESCO City of Film Award, the Byron Kennedy Award for Innovation and Exce... Read more

Location

ACMI Cinema 2, Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Federation Square, Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000

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The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.