For Reconciliation Week, Adelaide Festival Centre's Moving Image Program is exhibiting a work by Tim Georgeson.
This is a cinematic journey deep into the Tanami Desert with the Karrinyarra people. Together,we bring Aboriginal lore to life in art through found moments with fire, landscapes, objects,sound, voice and the Aboriginal Luritja language. We weave through country that has beentransformed by recent desert fires, capturing memento mori: earth scars, traces of extinguishedlife, transforming flora, ant mounds, bushes, wildlife, smoke stain, fire graves, human debris.As an artist who has made a career of observing diverse cultural realities, this work has beenseminal in exposing me to a deeper meditation on the ancient knowledge and histories heldwithin the earth, skies and water of the Australian landscape, as well as the IndigenousAustralian spiritual traditions embodied within them. “Fire is a regenerator of life, without fire we wouldn’t survive,” say Nigel and Terence, Karrrinyarra elders.
With a global climate crisis following the worst wildfires in Australian history, the relevance ofthis work is very timely. Aboriginal fire keepers and the Indigenous Council have amuch-needed story to tell that benefits all life. By opening that secret world to others, thisexhibition hopes to inspire cross-cultural understanding, support international climatemovements and give a push for new legislation that allows for First Nations people to participate in important ecological decision-making around crucial survival issues. Aboriginal fire practices are the beacon of global sustainability and are crucial knowledge for our collective ecological survival.
Commissioned by Perth Arts Festival, Indigenous Desert Alliance, Fremantle Arts Centre
I ACKNOWLEDGE THE LURITJA AND KARRINYARRA PEOPLE AS THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE SKIES, LAND AND WATER AND GIVE RESPECT TO ELDERS BOTH PAST AND PRESENT. I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOVEREIGNTY HAS NEVER BEEN CEDED.
Tim Georgeson, 2025