This publication supports the exhibitions:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A call and response across the ocean
We would like to acknowledge Berndt Museum, The University of Western Australia and Milingimbi Art and Culture for their enthusiastic support of the Dhomala exhibition with the loan of artwork, supply of text, technical support and general advice.
Thania Petersen – JAWAP Dhomala
6 February - 3 May 2026 Publication copyright ©2026 John Curtin Gallery Text copyright © individual authors All rights reserved. Artists from Milingimbi Art and Culture in collaboration with Jonathan Daw Animation, Djambanpuy Dhawu (The Tamarind Tale) (still), 2023, single-channel video, 3 min 38 sec. Courtesy of Milingimbi Art and Culture.
prompted to create work exploring her cultural identity. This led her to question socially and politically imposed frameworks, redirecting her practice toward an exploration of self-sovereignty.
through the clouds. It felt like it recognised me. The water connects me to my Ancestors who also swam in those oceans, connecting me to my past, present and future generations.” v
In recent years, Petersen has turned her attention to emerging ideological threats, drawing on spiritual traditions of song as a source of universal love that resists confinement to colonised spaces. Across Australia, song has long celebrated all facets of human experience and recorded complex knowledge systems. In the southwest, much has been lost to violent oppression, yet many Noongar Elders and creatives are actively working to not only archive their language but return it to everyday use.
In a contemporary world increasingly marked by disconnection and loneliness, artists are calling us home through the shared celebration of song. Thania Petersen questions how we can restore our old friendships, our old stories, and our old connections. Through her immersive artworks she invites us to “surrender to a rhythm that comes from beyond linear time”, to turn to the liberation of music.
Greeting audiences in the Atrium are the lyrics to Maambakoort – the Noongar word for ocean – written by acclaimed soul artist Bumpy. The song, taken from Bumpy’s 2025 album, Kanana, is part of a broader language project that traces the footsteps of her Nan, Rose Whitehurst, who wrote the first Noongar dictionary. MAAMBAKOORT, MAAMBAKOORT [OCEAN, OCEAN]
NGANG KATADJIN
Lia McKnight Curator, John Curtin Gallery
ARTdacity podcast, published 12/2/2025 All quotes from Thania Petersen are supplied by the artist unless noted otherwise. iii The integration of Allah into certain Yolŋu spiritual cosmologies has been documented by a number of anthropologists. https://www.bbc.com/news/ magazine-27260027 iv ’Dhomala’ a Yolŋu word for sail derives from the Makassan word ‘dumala’ v Retrieved 12/12/2025 from: https://themusic.com.au/features/bumpy-acceptscultural-responsibility-kanana-feature/vTcD0dDT0tU/03-10-25 i
ii
This catalogue is protected by copyright under the Copyright Act 1968. Apart from any use permitted under the Act, including fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. ISBN: 978-1-7640702-2-5
Our sincere gratitude to Don Wininba Ganambarr for his cultural guidance and for the generation of a new sound work in collaboration with Michael Hohnen who has worked tirelessly on multiple aspects of the Perth Festival project. Thank you to Abdi Karya for his dedication and ambition in the realisation of new work. Thank you to Don, Michael, Abdi and musicians Nebbie Burarrwanga and David Yunupingu for travelling to Makassar and collaborating with Thania Petersen in the creation of Jieker. We would most especially like to thank Thania Petersen for lending additional work and for being so generous with her time, travelling to Makassar to facilitate the creation of new iterations of her work. Thank you to our wonderful community who have volunteered their time to harvest, cut and pack citrus leaves for the creation of the Rampies sny installation. Our gratitude also goes to Stephen Armitstead and Noah Shilkin for technicial support. Our sincere thanks to Perth Festival Artistic Director Anna Reece, whose commitment to this project and deep connections to the region have enabled us to realise a far more ambitious project than we anticipated.
JOHN CURTIN GALLERY
John Curtin Gallery Building 200A, Curtin University Kent St, Bentley Western Australia 6102 Mon to Fri 10am-5pm Sun 12-4pm Closed Saturdays & Public Holidays Free admission curtin.edu.au/jcg @johncurtingallery gallery@curtin.edu.au 08 9266 4155
curtin.edu.au/jcg
Thank you to the team at John Curtin Gallery who have worked tirelessly to generate another impeccably produced assembly of experiences for our visitors. Their collective dedication, unwavering commitment, and exceptional teamwork allow us to meet every challenge and continue to deliver exhibitions to the highest standard.
[I,MY] [KNOWLEDGE/LEARNING]
KOORA YEYI [LONG TIME AGO] [PRESENT]
DANDJOO [COMING TOGETHER]
Inviting audiences to reflect on themes of belonging, identity, and the enduring relationship between people and the ocean, the song is presented as wall-based text alongside ocean-themed works from the Curtin University Art Collection by renowned artists, Kelsey Ashe, Brian Robinson, Susan Flavell and Laurel Nannup. Maambakoort celebrates Bumpy’s profound homecoming to the saltwaters of her ancestral country. Describing her return to Noongar Boodja with her mother, she says “There’s a lot of grief that’s wrapped up with going back and trying to reconnect . . . because you realise just how much more you’ve lost.” On entering the ocean Bumpy says, “It felt powerful. It felt dramatic. The wind swirled around me and the light broke
JCG PF26 6PP Catalogue.indd 1
John Curtin Gallery | Bunuru Season 2026
Margaret Rarru Garrawurra, Dhomala, 2024, etching, 33 x 50 cm Curtin University Art Collection. Purchased 2025
Cover: Installation view of Thania Petersen, Rampies Sny (detail) at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), Cape Town, 2022. Courtesy of the artist, Ames Yavuz, and MOCAA, South Africa
A call and response across the ocean Thania Petersen – JAWAP Dhomala 27/1/2026 9:20 am