Inside Walking through a Songline’s travelling marquee
| Photo Credit: Jason McCarthy
Once upon a time, an evil sorcerer in search of a wife began pursuing a group of sisters, changing his form often in order to deceive them. Aware of his nefarious intentions, the sisters fled across the country side; they were shapeshifters too and the paths they traversed created songlines.
This is the Pleiades star cluster origin story as told by the Aborginal community — differing versions of the story exist in cultures around the world. Over the course of time, songlines or dreaming tracks as they are also known, came to signify the routes and activities of ancestral beings as they travelled across Australia.
The digital songline crafted by the National Museum of Australia in partnership with Australia’s Mosster Studio, gives visitors a peek into Aboriginal Australian knowledge. Walking Through A Songline is an attempt to share sacred Aboriginal traditions, which have been passed down from one generation to the next, with those from outside the community.
Inside Walking through a Songline’s travelling marquee
| Photo Credit:
Jason McCarthy
An enclosure of 8.5/ 5.5 metreshouses a digital experience, where in a span of seven minutes, one can hear the ancient tongue as well as relive the folklore in 3D. The voices have been used with the consent of custodians and knowledge holders of these stories.
A star-studded sky, rocky terrain, torrential rain and more, seamlessly meld and unfold as one follows the path of the fleeing sisters and their pursuer.
The digital experience is just part of Walking Through A Songline, which also includes a reading corner, film screening and an indigenous fabric display. The fabrics on display have been created and designed using a woodblock technique and sustainable dyes by the women of Arnhem Land in Australia’s Babbarra Women’s Centre, in collaboration with Tharangini Studio in Bengaluru.
Also read: Jarracharra: Where aborginal art and Indian block printing collaborate
Every Saturday from 6pm, the Science Gallery will show Songlines on Screen, a series of six short films on the history and culture of indigenous groups in remote western, northern and central Australia.
Walking Through A Songline is on a multi-city tour of India and one can follow its schedule on www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions. It will be on display in Bengaluru at the Science Gallery till August 18, 2024.
The exhibition is free and open to all.
