Badu Gili: Healing Spirit

The project marks the second year of a creative partnership between the Opera House, Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. The powerful projection of First Nations storytelling has been animated by Vandal with a soundscape by James Henry, bringing together Indigenous artists from Bidjigal (Australia) and Yanomami (the Amazon’s largest Indigenous group) for the first time on Australia's most iconic canvas.

Inspired by shellwork crafted by Esme Timbery and Marilyn Russell, prints and weavings by Steven Russell, and Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami’s drawings of the spirits and landscapes of the remote Yanomami forest, the new six-minute digital animation explores rituals and the bonds of cultural and familial connection forged through art and storytelling.

As a tribute to the life and work of their mother, the chapter created by Marilyn Russell and Steven Russell is set against the backdrop of the ocean and within the universe of Esme’s art. Featuring delicate shellwork and prints representing the enduring passage of artistic practice across generations, the projection explores the deep spiritual connection between a mother, her family and their Country.

Transitioning to the forests and rivers of the Yanomami, Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami’s chapter depicts a shamanic curing ceremony, a ritual performed when community members fall ill. Illuminating the relationship between the metaphysical and natural worlds, good spirits are called upon to ward offbad. Offering a glimpse into Yanomami cosmology, Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami brings the Amazonalive with butterflies, jaguars and the songs of his people.

Badu Gili: Healing Spirit will launch to the public on 13 December with Badu Gili: LIVE – a night oflive music, food and gathering to celebrate the first light of this exciting new chapter.