How Deep is the Water, Uncle?’ An Interview with Hannah Donnelly
Oral histories, storytelling, and their interconnectedness to land and water are vital to First Nations culture and art in so-called Australia, where Indigenous systems of knowledge continue to be disrupted, destroyed and denied in order to prop up the occupying settler-colonial state. The 23rd Biennale of Sydney, ‘rīvus,’ examines the centrality of water to understanding and challenging the extractive paradigm through which settlers have framed the natural world and advanced the colonial project.
As part of the Biennale, Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Elder Uncle David Wandin contributed to the educational video series ‘River Voices.’ He describes the deep spiritual significance of the Birrarung Marr (the Yarra River) to Wurundjeri people, sharing ancestral stories that recount its creation.
Ackroyd & Harvey, ‘Lille Madden / Tar-Ra (Dawes Point), 2022.
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