At its heart is the voice of Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu, a renowned Warlpiri philosopher, teacher and visionary from the desert community of Lajamanu in the north Tanami. An international ambassador for Warlpiri culture, Wanta has produced key works in Indigenous education and community-based art. Wanta's father, First Contact elder Jerry Jangala Patrick OAM, one of the most significant Warlpiri songmen alive today, anchors the film in Jukurrpa (Dreaming) songs from traditional ceremonies.
The film is a collaboration with music producer Marc 'Monkey' Peckham, whose real-life conversations with Wanta, based on their 15-year friendship, form the soundtrack to the work. Take a journey 3000 kms north and step into Monkey's place, to experience an intimate perspective on cultural exchange and mutual respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Crown and Country unfolds at a pivotal time for desert communities, where the last elders who experienced first contact with colonial Australia reflect on their past while younger generations seek meaning in a shared, contested land. Shot on Warlpiri country by filmmaker James Gillot with support from Jeff Bruer, Crown and Country reflects on this history and invites the listener to consider new forms of belonging in Australia.
Presented by RMIT University in partnership with City of Melbourne's 'Now or Never' festival.
Chloe Rose Thomas’ exhibition, 'Can I Hold You?' centres on queer community and embodied practices of care, exploring what it means to take traditional photographic portraits of non-normative bodies and the histories they represent.
'Portable Stillness' (2025), is an ongoing spatial installation that explores how the making of miniature objects and floating altar-like displays can express memory, collection, and the domestic in transition. Motivated by the instability of diasporic living and continual relocation, Ko Jou Chen constructs handmade structures that carry memory and presence across her shifting environments.
'Slip' is a practice-led research project that explores the poetic qualities of the bluestones that have been discarded in recent construction works around RMIT University. Through the process of moulding and casting these stones into beeswax, Noah Bridger hopes to reimagine Melbourne’s urban landscape.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures
