worain kep-ak koorliny Flow

In the International Year of Indigenous Languages (2019) and International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–23) this participatory, site-responsive and culture-responsive solar powered audio installation is utilising the natural flow of water to convey the voices of First Nations children in Australia and Aotearoa NZ, speaking their messages to their communities, their countries and the world in their First Languages.

The children’s words and songs, recorded and edited into soundscapes, are being ‘released’ into the water to flow to the oceans.

This work is essentially invisible to passersby, yet the underwater audio can be accessed via a poetically simple means: a stick held with one end in the water, the other against the ear.

As the project progresses, the words that flow from First Nations children in Australia, Aotearoa NZ and potentially other countries around the world will, metaphorically, eventually meet and mix with each other in the interconnected oceans of our globe. This intermingling of First Words will symbolise both the strength and support that First Cultures draw from establishing relationships with each other globally, and the interdependent nature of all humanity.

Flow, created by Aotearoa (NZ)-born, Sydney-based public artist and UNSW lecturer Allan Giddy, was conceived and prototyped during a 2018 Intercreate residency on Parihaka Pa, Taranaki, Aotearoa (NZ), working with local children speaking te reo Māori.

worain kep-ak koorliny Flow has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. It was created with the students of Brookman Primary School in 2019 and 2023, speaking in Noongar language, under the guidance of AIEO (Aboriginal, Islander Education Officer) Merinda Hansen, in consultation with Langford Aboriginal Association. The project is also supported by the Environmental Research Initiative for Art (ERIA), University of New South Wales.

worain kep-ak koorliny Flow will be presented to the public at Canning River Eco Education Centre (CREEC) at Kent Street Weir during the Muddy Hands Festival 2023 (Saturday 18 November, 10 am to 3 pm).

Thank you to Jemma King for her musical accompaniment.

The Flow project is also supported by Create NSW and Creative New Zealand, and is endorsed by the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).

see also:

Cookaroo Flow on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia: https://en.iyil2019.org/events/cookaroo-flow/

Rotorua Flow in Te Arawa waters in Rotorua, Aotearoa (NZ): https://en.iyil2019.org/events/rotorua-flow/

Bungli Flow in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, Australia, on the land of the Wodi Wodi people of the Yuin nation who speak the Dharawal language (Bungli is the traditional name for the Shoalhaven River): https://en.iyil2019.org/events/bungli-flow/