NGAPA YAAN / NIIBI AANMITAAGZI
(WATER SPEAKS)
12 March – 13 June 2022
Pier 2/3 at Walsh Bay Arts Precinct
13 Hickson Road, Dawes Point, NSW 2000
As part of the 23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus, taking place from March 12 – June 13, 2022, Aanmitaagzi collaborated with Moogahlin Performing Arts to create Ngapa Yaan / Niibi Aanmitaagzi, a short video work on display at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. The work is one stage of an ongoing artistic and knowledge exchange between the two companies, and features creation stories told in Murrawarri and Northern Cree language as well as footage of their respective lands and waterways.
As stated on Moogahlin’s website:
This project is a durational investigation of two cultural stories, Serpent People from Nipissing First Nation (Turtle Island) and Mundagudda from Murrawarri Country in Far West NSW, Australia.
Through a discursive practice of storytelling, and story-weaving connected by a common theme – WATER – we are engaging with historical references to water from across different nations and countries that celebrate and highlight our relational identities and connection to country. The stories come from juxtaposed locations, one a frozen inland lake, the other in an often-dry land. We ask, what knowledge about water is contained and transferred through each story? How do these stories define a relationship to water?
In articulating our relationship to water, we are in a process of communicating our identity, blood ties, and clan affiliations.
Aanmitaagzi would like to thank our artistic team Perry Mcleod-Shabogeesic (Storyteller / Knowledge Keeper), Penny Couchie (Creative Lead / Script / Narration), Megan Lozicki Paulin (Creative Lead), Sid Bobb (Creative Lead / Script), Cecile Hookimaw (Northern Cree Translator / Narration), Bradley Trudeau (Camera), Sherry Guppy (Production Support), Michaela Washburn (Production Support), and Merilee Helmer (Production Support) for their amazing work, as well as Richard Fortin (Camera Assistant) & Bernardo D’Avila (Camera and Drone Operator) from RFPMEDIA for helping us to produce our portion of the video.
We also want to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for their continued support, and Moogahlin Performing Arts and the Biennale of Sydney for inviting us to participate in this project.