OPENING EVENT: Ganbu Gulin: Imagining

Sofii Belling-Harding is a Yorta Yorta, Wiradjuri, South Sea and Meriam woman who has lived in Naarm on Wurundjeri Country all her life, having grown up in Preston and now residing in Fitzroy. She is a qualified Youth Worker and multidisciplinary artist, specialising in photography, ceramics and painting on fabric. Sofii is a member of the Yirramboi Advisory Group, Producer for the Ilbijerri Theatre Company's 30th Year Anniversary Event and is currently working towards exhibiting pieces in collaboration with other artists for the 'Sydney Road Blaks' exhibition at Counihan Gallery in Brunswick. She is passionate about working with and for her community in the creative industries and specifically, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. 

Photo by Wild Hardt.

Neil Morris is a Yorta Yorta Kaieltheban song writer, hip hop artist and producer who uses his music as DRMNGNOW to explore culture, community and country. Through story telling Neil provokes discussion  and education around Australia’s Indigenous history and future, and the  constant strength and struggles of his people post colonial Australia.

Photo by Wild Hardt.

Adopting her childhood nickname — adorned due to a knack for bumping into all kinds of obstacles — Bumpy pulls from the strength found in tenderness, scars and all. The Noongar woman and Naarm artist’s stirring voice is transportive, arresting listeners with complex, intimate and multi-faceted truths of loss, joy and connection.

Whether paired-backed to just her voice and a guitar (‘Falling’), adorned with luscious strings (‘Return Home’) or playing off a live band ('Leave It All Behind'), Bumpy’s music is always honest, raw yet awfully controlled. Live, she brings all facets of herself to the stage: vulnerable and strong, melancholic and energetic, serious and silly, always entrancing.

Having previously played festivals such as Boogie Festival, Strawberry Fields, Melbourne Music Week and more, Bumpy most recently appeared as part of VIVID Festival at the Sydney Opera House forecourt, alongside Yussef Dayes, Hiatus Kaiyote, Mildlife and others.

Traditional Kulin dances and stories told and danced with a spectacular contemporary twist.
Our aim to is dance in spaces where First Nations people have historically congregated in Naarm, (Melbourne). To reconnect people to country and culture and to songlines.

Monica Karo, a Gunai/Kurnai and Gunditjmara descendant, is a Melbourne-based poet, actor and singer-songwriter. Having studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts, she is continuously expanding on her artistry. Reflecting a deep connection to spirituality through her ancestry, Monica brings a raw element by infusing her strong cultural values and personal experiences of womanhood into her poetry. Monica is a passionate young artist and mother who strives for an empathetic approach to life, all peoples and the environment. Monica believes a poet’s repertoire is scripted from the mind, but sewn into a channelled existence from the Heart.

Photo by Wild Hardt.

We are the only Wurundjeri female dance group, and also Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne). Djirri Djirri means Willy Wagtail in Woiwurrung, the language of Wurundjeri people, the Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) and surrounds. The Willy Wagtail the Spirit Bird, gave us dance! Many of our group have danced since they were young children, while others have learnt as adults. Our dances are created to honour our Liwik (Ancestors), Kerr-up-non (Family), Biik (Country) and animals. We are all related by blood through  one woman, Annie Borate, William Barak's sister. We teach our dancers to also sing in Woiwurrung language, our Mother Tongue.