River Connections

This project was made in collaboration with Museums Victoria and First Peoples Elders and artists Larry Walsh, Esther Kirby, Brendan Kennedy and Consultant Curator, Genevieve Grieves. It forms part of Melbourne Museum's Learning Lab for school-age students, who experience the film and discuss its themes as part of programmed workshops. Each scene, image and sound, as well as the overall structure, was developed through deep listening sessions and the creative team visiting and exploring ideas on Country.

The Murray River is a controversial site of ecological, cultural and economic importance, and it is through this subject matter that the film explores ideas of sustainability. A central theme of the film is the connection of all things - a concept that Larry, Esther, Brendan (Kennedy) and Genevieve regularly brought to the surface. This motif is visualised with flowing lines that depict ever-changing subjects morphing from one form into another, and my use of non-lexible vocables (essentially languageless voice) throughout the score.  

All sound recordings of country in the film were captured as ambisonic soundscapes on Country, creating a work that feels distinctly of place. The vocals were provided by the incredible talents of indiginous vocalist Jess Hitchcock in Melbourne and long time collaborator Sarah Belkner in Sydney.

The 5-minute digital animation was created for a bespoke infinity-projection space in Melbourne Museum. The 27-meter wide projection surface spans three walls and the floor, with a resolution of over 10k in width, realised using 8 projectors and a custom 14-channel immersive speaker arrangement, with all sound and music mixed on site.