~ ‘Walking Through A Songline’ at The Museum of Goa, resonates with India’s own indigenous oral traditions.
Ancient Australian First Nations’ knowledge meets cutting-edge technology at ‘Walking Through A Songline,’ an immersive and digital art exhibition that brings the storytelling of Australia’s First Nations’ people to Goa.
Hosted at the Museum of Goa (MOG) in Pilerne, the ongoing exhibition, which was inaugurated by Christian Jack, Australian Deputy Consul General in Mumbai recently, reimagined the Seven Sisters Songline, one of Australia’s oldest indigenous narratives, through digital artistry, drawing unexpected connections to India’s own oral and artistic traditions.
Songlines, also called dreaming tracks, are a way of holding and passing on knowledge in non-text-based societies. These are millennia-old pathways of knowledge in the form of story, performance and art, that span the entire Australian continent, forming its foundational stories. The Songlines map the routes and activities of ancestral ‘creator beings’ that explain creation and transmit cultural values, including protocols of behaviour and living sustainably on the continent.
Presented by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the National Museum of Australia and produced by the Melbourne-based Mosster Studio, the exhibition uses digital craft to take a relook at Australia’s epic Seven Sisters Songline, an ancient tale of pursuit, survival of the continent’s First Nations’ people and cosmic connections. Interpreting the work of more than 100 artists, the exhibition transported visitors into the heart of Australian First Nations’ storytelling, drawing unexpected parallels with Goa’s own prehistoric art, like the Usgalimal petroglyphs in Quepem.
“Indigenous art is often sidelined as ‘primitive’ when in reality, it is as contemporary as any other form of artistic expression,” said Museum of Goa founder director Dr Subodh Kerkar. “This exhibition extends the spirit of Reconciliation Place in Canberra and Australia’s efforts to celebrate its First Nations’ people.” Reconciliation Place in the Australian capital of Canberra is a public space dedicated to acknowledging the continent’s indigenous history, culture and the ongoing journey of reconciliation in Australia.
Australian Deputy Consul General, Christian Jack, highlighted the exhibition’s broader significance. “We are thrilled with the response ‘Walking Through A Songline’ is receiving in Goa. Songlines, like India’s oral traditions, are ancestral maps of knowledge, passed down through generations. The multi-sensory art exhibition showcased the power of digital storytelling in preserving one of the world’s oldest cultures and it has been an honour to share this experience with the people of Goa.”
The exhibition at the MOG in Pilerne represents the last leg of the exhibition’s India tour and will be open for public viewing till April 4.
Beyond the digital installation, the exhibition features workshops, storytelling sessions and interactive activities, ensuring engagement beyond the screen. The India tour of ‘Walking Through A Songline’ has been organised in tandem with the Centre for Australia-India Relations (CAIR), Deakin University, Tata BlueScope Steel and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).
