Bathers Beach, Western Australia, Australia
Attadale Reserve, Burke Drive, Attadale WA, Australia
XGXX+7W Rottnest Island WA, Australia
First Lights – Kooranup
Yabini Kickett
Cass Lynch
Ilona McGuire
Tyrown Waigana
Fri 3 Nov - Sat 18 Nov 2023
Manjaree (Fremantle), Dyoondalup (Attadale) and Wadjemup (Rottnest Island)
Date and time
Fri 3 Nov - Sat 18 Nov 2023
Date and time
Fri 3 Nov - Sat 18 Nov 2023
“Kooranup, is the place beyond the horizon and past Moombaki, where the water meets the sky. It is the heavenly shore located in the far west. Our spirits final resting place in the Noongar Nyitting (Dreaming)”. – Ilona McGuire
As a part of the Fremantle Biennale’s fourth festival SIGNALS 23, First Lights: Kooranup was presented; a sequel to the stories shared through First Lights: Moombaki in 2021. This epic spectacle of light, movement and sound will again transform the night sky with 160 drones taking flight over the stage of the bilya (river) and wardan (ocean).
The Fremantle Biennale’s fleet of 160 drones took flight over the bilya (river) and warden (ocean), revealing the first stories of place across three weekends and three locations, created by artists Yabini Kickett, Cass Lynch, Tyrown Waigana, and Ilona McGuire, guided by Whadjuk Nyoongar Traditional Owners.
On the first weekend, as the saltwater laps at the shores of Bathers Beach, Tyrown Waigana brought to life a witty reflection of an ancient story of ancestral beings and their epic battle that shaped our coastline.
On the expansive grounds at the rivers edge, Yabini Kickett’s offering called us to attention within the natural landscape; from the whispering winds through the sheoaks to chirping frogs of the bilya (river), this is a story of kinship, interconnectedness and transformation.
The last chapter unfolded across the ocean, on Wadjemup (Rottnest Island), with a collective offering, led by Ilona McGuire and writer Cass Lynch. This closing chapter offers a space for deep contemplation across land and water, weaving together the many stories across time, both beautiful and heartbreaking, that are held by the island.
Co-presented with City of Fremantle, City of Melville and Rottnest Island Authority.
Artists: Yabini Kickett (Dyoondalup), Cass Lynch (Wadjemup & Dyoondalup), Tyrown Waigana (Manjaree) and Ilona McGuire (Wadjemup).
Whadjuk Cultural Advisory Group: Aurora Abraham, Len Collard, Walter McGuire Jnr, Ezra Jacobs-Smith and Glenys Yarran.
Composers: Thalia Skopellos, Ned Beckley, Josh Hogan
Narrators: Jayden Boundry, Walter McGuire and Mitch Walley
Sound Design: Envelope Audio
Animation: Jarrad Russell
Technical Partner: Stellar Lights
Livestream & Videography: Kitecast
About the artists
Yabini Kickett
Yabini is an artist with ties to Ballardong, Nyaki-Nyaki, Wadjuk people of the Bibulman Nation. Her work focuses on portraiture, endemic plant and fungal species, and stories from her kin. Yabini was a 2017 participant in the Wesfarmers National Indigenous Arts Leadership program in Canberra. Since then, her work has been acquired by the West Australian Art Gallery, and Yabini has gone on to explore curating with her latest project Djennung! Yeyi! Yorga Koorliny at the Campbelltown Arts Centre in NSW.
Cass Lynch
Cass Lynch is a Koreng Wudjari Noongar woman descended from the families of Ravensthorpe in the Great Southern region. She is a writer and research fellow, and has a PhD in Creative Writing that explores Noongar stories that reference climate change. She is a member of the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories group who focus on the revitalisation of culture and language connected to south coast Noongar people. She is the co-founder of the Aboriginal literature project Woylie Fest, which facilitates bringing Noongar stories into print and training community members to be presenters. Her Noongar language haikus, published in Westerly 64.1, won the 2019 Patricia Hackett Prize. Her audio storytelling works have been featured at Perth Festival, Arts House Melbourne, CCA Glasgow, and PICA. Her short story ‘Split’, a creative impression of deep time Perth, can be found in the UQP publication Flock: First Nations Stories Then and Now.
Ilona McGuire
Ilona McGuire is a Bibbulmun Noongar and Kungarakan interdisciplinary artist. Her interests in all forms of creative expression manifests through culturally informed visual work, writing, performance and an open artistic practice. Ilona centralizes the Indigenous experience of Australia’s ongoing systemic dysfunction by exploration of its historical, social and political impacts on her families and broader communities. Following her 2021 drone light show, Moombaki with the Fremantle Biennale, Ilona was awarded the Schenberg Art Fellowship for Hatched: National Graduate Show 2022 and residency at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). 2022 and 2023 saw her work exhibited at Fremantle Art Centre, Stala Contemporary, Goolugatup Heathcote Gallery, John Curtin Gallery and in NSW for the National 4: Australian Art Now.
Tyrown Waigana
Tyrown Waigana is an emerging Noongar and Torres Strait Islander artist. Through his surreal concepts and abstract painting, Wardandi and Saibai Islander multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer Tyrown Waigana probes themes like identity, feelings, politics and art history. Waigana explores storytelling through illustration and animation under his brand Crawlin Crocodile. He won the 2020 National NAIDOC poster competition and was named the 2020 NAIDOC artist of the year.
