After the popularity of Van Gogh Alive and Monet and Friends comes Connection, the largest-ever celebration of First Nations culture through art, touch, food, dance and sound. Here’s everything to know about Connection at THE LUME Melbourne.
“Our culture is a broad base of how we tell stories. And everyone has a different interpretation, and different song, on a different storyline, of how they've shared their stories… cave paintings, making tools, message sticks… dance… song, and we wholly bring the essence of Indigenous [people in] all of its different mediums.”
Wayne Quilliam is humble in his approach to art and storytelling. While he is a professor, curator and well-known artist who has hosted over 300 exhibitions worldwide, been in 500 publications and was awarded Artist of the Year (2009), he prefers to be titled as an Aboriginal Storyteller.
“I’m about bringing our Peoples’ culture to life,” he says. Quilliam is referring to Connection, the latest triumph he co-curated, currently on display at THE LUME Melbourne.
Connection features over 110 Indigenous artists’ work over visuals, dance, video, and sound, including nearly 650 digital and original artworks projected and displayed in the 3,000 square metre immersive experience. Quilliam’s aim was for people to truly feel the exhibit, and he’s constantly interested in the impression left on visitors after their experience.
“When we developed this, we needed to bring this essence of what we as Aboriginal artists feel as our storytelling,” he explains.
While he’s been to “beautiful shows,” all over the world, THE LUME Melbourne felt like the right place to show the Indigenous exhibit, as “our culture is just so immersive,” he says.
As well as works from Indigenous cultures from Australia and the Torres Strait, Quilliam’s own photographs and videos feature, as well as displays of physical artworks.
“What I love as a storyteller is that I'm always coming from a different angle, different perspective... really to refresh my own creativity and our ideal stories,” he says.
Growing up in Tasmania, Quilliam only found his “fascination with culture” after travelling the world with the Navy.
Coming back, “I wanted to know about who I was as a young Aboriginal man,” he says.
He got into documenting culture around Australia, from older Indigenous artists, their stories and songlines, to new generations also featured in the Connection exhibit, some for the first time.
“We wanted to make sure this was a really inclusive show,” he says.
“[So] that's why we call it Connection. It was to bring all our eyes, from the young modern contemporary ones, right through to our beautiful old storytellers from the Torres Strait to Tasmania.”
Here’s everything to know before visiting the Connection experience at THE LUME Melbourne.
RACV Members save 10 per cent on tickets to this experience by using the promo code RACV10 at check out.