Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black)
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Dates2019 - Ongoing
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Author
- Location Australia, Australia
These images documents the first time a Queer initiated Yankunytjatjara Wati has returned to Country to dance in Drag on Inma ground.
This photo series was taken during the making of Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) with my friend and collaborator Derik Lynch, an initiated Yankunytjatjara Wati and artist as he performed in a glowing gold dress (drag) on his sacred Inma ground.
Marungka Tjalatjunu is work documenting Derik Lynch's road trip back to Country for spiritual healing, as memories from his childhood return. A journey from the oppression of white city life in Adelaide, back home to his remote Anangu Community (Aputula) to perform the dance captured in this image.
Inma is a traditional form of storytelling using the visual, verbal, and physical. It is how Anangu Tjukurpa (story connected to country / dreaming / myth / lore) have been passed down for over 60,000+ years from generation to generation.
The work has been undertaken collaboratively by Derik and myself over the last 5 years working between Adelaide, Community, and the APY Lands.
The short film drawn from the work premiered in March 2023 at the 73rd Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Teddy Award.
The film has since been selected locally for the Sydney Film Festival, and Melbourne Film Festival.
Photography from this series was also selected for the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Prize, UK (2021) and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London in the same year.
