Gudirr Gudirr is a multi-channel video and sound installation directed by Vernon Ah Kee, developed from the compelling solo dance work created by Marrugeku and performed by Dalisa Pigram.
Filmed on location in the Kimberley, this stunning three-screen installation re-imagines the original dance performance.
The guwayi bird calls when the tide is turning — to miss the call is to drown. By turns hesitant, restless, resilient and angry, Gudirr Gudirr lights a path from a broken past through a fragile present and towards an uncertain future.
Considering the legacy of Australia’s history for Aboriginal people in northwest Australia today Gudirr Gudirr asks: what does it take to decolonise Aboriginal peoples’ minds, to unlock doors and to face cultural change? The installation calls a warning to a community facing massive industrialisation on traditional lands, loss of language and major gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous wellbeing. Drawing on a physicality borne of her Asian–Indigenous identity, Dalisa Pigram builds a dance language to capture this moment in time for her people.
Timeline
Broome preview: Sail Makers Shed, Broome Historical Museum as part of Shinju Matsuri, 29 August – 5 September 2020
World Premiere: Carriageworks, as part of The National 2021, Sydney 26 March – 20 June 2021
2020
Sail Makers Shed, Broome Historical Museum | Broome
29 August – 5 September
2021
Carriageworks | Sydney
26 March – 20 June
2023
The Substation | Melbourne, Australia
FRAME: A biennial of dance – REALREEL exhibition
1 March – 1 April
Virtual Screening | Boulder Colorado, USA
Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema
1 – 31 March
Musée du quai Branly
Paris, France
3 – 11 June
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Vernon Ah Kee
Based on an original concept by Dalisa Pigram with Patrick Dodson, realised by Marrugeku
Performer and Co-choreographer Dalisa Pigram
Producer Bridget Ikin
Dramaturg and Associate Producer Rachael Swain
Co-choreographer and director of original production Koen Augustijnen
Cinematographer Emma Paine
Composer Sam Serruys
Singer and Songwriter Stephen Pigram
Costume Designer Stephen Curtis
Editor Darrin Baker
Sound Design Liam Egan
Sound recording Alan Pigram, Bella Kenworthy
Production support Mia Timpano
Naomi Riddle
1 Jun 2021
The rejoinder to this is that there is a work in The National bristling with its own tightly coiled energy. Vernon Ah Kee and Dalisa Pigram’s Gudirr Gudirr (2021) is a three-channel collaborative videowork, first performed as a solo piece with Marrugeku (an intercultural dance company) and subsequently shot on location in Broome, Western Australia. In
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Jane Albert
31 Mar 2021
The outstanding project at Carriageworks is a collaboration between Queensland Aboriginal artist Vernon Ah Kee and Yawaru dancer Dalisa Pigram. Ah Kee has created an immersive three-screen video installation of Pigram’s award-winning solo performance, Gudirr Gudirr restaged against the ocean and on the streets of Broome. In her vigorous, fluid movements and spoken word, Pigram
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Stephen A Russell
29 Mar 2021
And don’t overlook Vernon Ah Kee, Dalisa Pigram and Marrugeku’s brilliant video installation Guidirr Guidirr in Bay 19. A darkly comic laceration of racism in this country wrapped up in the astounding beauty of this continent, it’s one of the best films we’ve seen so far this year, and you’ll easily lose half an hour
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Kirsty Francis
20 Mar 2021
Visual artist Vernon Ah Kee and choreographer and dancer Dalisa Pigram worked collaboratively on the creation of Gudirr Gudirr (2021), a 3-channel video and sound installation. Pigram’s choreographic style activates a unique form of storytelling that brings the traditions of Aboriginal dance and language, silat martial arts (Malaysia), the movement of animals and break dance
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Commissioned by Carriageworks and Marrugeku for The National 2021: New Australian Art.
Marrugeku is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, the NSW Government through Create NSW, and is supported by the WA State Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Create NSW.
