THE JOURNEY DOWN
A 3,456KM CELEBRATION OF CONNECTION AND COUNTRY
Presented by Tura in partnership with Western Australian Museum
The Journey Down is an animated and vibrant celebration of dance, song, projections and otherworldly sound coming together to transform an old bush wreck into a travelling canvas of story and culture.
Six years in the making, The Journey Down tour features the sonic sculpture Warnarral Noorrngoorrool (Gija for old car), on tour from Kununurra through the expanse of regional and remote WA to its final destination in Perth, where it’s been acquired by Boola Bardip Western Australian Museum. Warnarral Noorrngoorrool includes paintings depicting stories of dreaming, vehicles and journeys by significant Gija artists including Shirley Purdie, Gabriel Nodea and Gordon Barney.
Warnarral Noorrngoorrool will be accompanied by powerful performances by Mirriwoong and Gija songmen and dancers including Chris Griffiths and Andrew Daylight, Yamatji didjeridu virtuoso Mark Atkins with leading Australian musicians Aviva Endean, Tristen Parr and Vanessa Tomlinson, interwoven with animation and video design from Sohan Ariel Hayes (Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak).
The Journey Down will transport audiences to new worlds in a celebration of intercultural collaboration, the vibrancy of our regional communities and the stories and sounds that connect us.
LOCATIONS
Kununurra, Warmun, Halls Creek, Wangkatjungka, Fitzroy Crossing, Broome, Port Hedland, Roebourne, Karratha, Carnarvon, Geraldton and Perth.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Warnarral Noorngoorrool is the result of a six year collaboration which began in 2017 when Tura commissioned composer and sound artist Jon Rose to convert an old car wreck into a sonic sculpture and instrument in collaboration with the Warmun Community as part of Tura’s Regional Residency Program. Read more about the history of Warnarral Noorngoorrool here.
Warnarral Ngoorngoorrool is pronounced Wah-nah-rool Noom-er-rool and is Gija for “old car”.
Read more about the history of Warnarral Ngoorngoorrool here.
The Gija people are from the East Kimberley area of Western Australia, about 200 km south of Kununurra. Many Gija people now live around localities such as Halls Creek and Warmun.
The land of the Miriwoong people covers a large tract of country straddling the Western Australian and Northern Territory border and includes the township of Kununurra in the East Kimberley.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Tura acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and create. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. With solidarity and friendship we say thank you.
The Journey Down tour has been supported by the State Government of Western Australia through the Regional Arts and Cultural Investment Program, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its Arts Funding and Advisory Body.