Beach Street, Fremantle WA, Australia
First Lights – Moombaki
Ilona McGuire
5-21 Nov 2021
Fremantle
where the river meets the sky
Date and time
5-21 Nov 2021
Entry
Free
Accessibility
Date and time
5-21 Nov 2021
Entry
Free
Accessibility
An epic spectacle of light, movement and sound transformed the night sky for the Fremantle Biennale’s presentation of Moombaki in November 2021.
The Nyoongar word for ‘where the river meets the sky’, Moombaki was a choreographed drone light show re-imagining the first stories of Whadjuk Nyoongar Country for all to experience.
With artworks created by Ilona McGuire and a narrative guided by story and knowledge held by Whadjuk Nyoongar Traditional Owners Doris Getta, Marion Kickett, Karen Jacobs, Glenys Yarren, Neville Collard, Stan Headland, Farley Garlett, Walter McGuire Brendan Moore, and project contributors Rohin Kickett and Grant Revell, Moombaki launched the Fremantle Biennale program in 2021.
Across eight nights and three locations in Fremantle, Melville and Cockburn, Moombaki saw over 160 drones take flight over the stage of the bilya (river) and wardan (ocean), to reveal a series of connected stories.
An Australian first, this unique sky show pioneered new technologies to tell ancient and living stories of place.
Music and Sound Design: Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley (Envelope Audio)
Executive Producer: Tom Mùller
Presented for CROSSING 2021.
About the artist
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.
Ilona McGuire, Moombaki, 2021, Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River), Dyoondalup (Attadale), Derbarl Nara (Coogee Beach). Courtesy the Fremantle Biennale. Photos: Duncan Wright.
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