Watami Manikay is an immersive collaborative performance by the Yolŋu digital artists of The Mulka Project. The collaboration weaves together the kinship relationships of artists from multiple connected Yolŋu clans. It links beyond people to plants, animals, places, waters, seasons, and through to the winds, Bulluṉu (east wind), Bärra (west wind). Luŋgurrma (north wind), Maḏirri (south wind) ...
At the centre of Watami Manikay stands a unique larrakitj (hollow ceremonial log) painted white with gapaṉ (ceremonial clay). The larrakitj represent the foundation gunḏa (the rock). The unwavering rock grounds each clan to their identity whilst the ephemeral gapaṉ represents the changing clouds rebuilding anew with every passing season.”
The Mulka Project is a collective of highly active artists who work with cutting-edge digital technologies, producing video art that links across land, recording and archiving song and everyday life. These practices range from precise projection mapping, to digital animation and editing. The Mulka Project’s work is a continuation of ‘countless generations of evolving Yolŋu art practice'. Through multiple interweaving film projections, Watami Manikay envelops the viewer in a cyclical work formed from the vast Yolŋu film archive managed by Yolŋu law, governance and culture.
Watami Manikay (Song of the Winds) 2020
gaḏayka (stringy bark), gapaṉ (white clay), djarraṯawun (light), and rirrakay (sound)
Contributors: Wukun Wanambi, Patrina Munuŋgurr, Ishmael Marika, Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu, Mundatjŋu Munuŋgurr, Arian Pearson, Siena Stubbs, Rebecca Charlesworth, Joseph Brady
Courtesy Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, Yirrkala
The online version of Watami Manikay is an experimental web project and is not accessible from all systems and web browsers.
System Requirements for Online Version