Karrabing Art Residency for Ancestors

 The southern side of the Anson Bay, Northern Territory is home to crucially important spiritual and historical sites for Mentha, Emmi, Wadjigiyn, and Kiyuk Karrabing. The region is ecologically defined by the vast Daly River tides, the extensive inland freshwater swamps, and coastal beaches and reefs.

The Art Residency for the Ancestors creates a direct link between the Karrabing Film Collective and their human and totemic ancestry of their lands. In conjunction with Serpentine, London, the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, and the Indigenous Language and Arts Program, KARA seeks to model Indigenous forms of art for ancestors as it enlivens the spirits of their country, the ancestral heritage, and the more-than-human-world.

KARA seeks to establishment an endowment for (a) the protection of totemic and historical ecology and geography of the south side of the Anson Bay, Northern Territory, Australia, including panoramic totemic being, a vast network of rock weirs (fish traps), and towering shell midden; (b) the establishment of an Arts and Sea Rangers program to monitor to ecological and ancestral health of the region; (c) the creation of four to five residences including one for art residencies and curatorial conversations and projects.