Join multidisciplinary artist Peter Waples-Crowe for a short introduction before the screening of his film Ngaya (I Am), 2022 in Community Hall.

Ngaya (I Am), 2022, is presented as part of the recess-co-curated Artist Film Program. The work was originally commissioned by ACMI for the landmark exhibition How I See It: Blak Art and Film curated by Kate ten Buuren (Taungurung). Waples-Crowe has said, ‘Ngaya (I Am) is a cut-and-paste, punked-up look at my Country. It looks at Country from an insider-outsider perspective … and uses humour to disarm the view the true nature of invasion’. In one section of the work, a jetski flies across choppy waters within the Eugene von Guérard painting North-east view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko, 1863; a disco ball shines over Ngarigo Country as it burns; and a Melbourne tram crosses the picture plane, reflecting the whole experience from Naarm.

About Peter Waples-Crowe

Peter Waples-Crowe is a Ngarigo visual and performance-based artist living in Melbourne. His intersecting experiences as an Aboriginal person and his work with community health and arts organisations give him a unique perspective as an artist and community cultural development worker. Waples-Crowe creates bold and colourful work that explores the representation of Aboriginal people in popular culture, often referencing the dingo as a totemic figure and an analogy for Indigenous peoples.

Film credits
Ngaya (I Am) 2022; single-channel video installation, 5 minutes. With Rhian Hinkley and composer Harry Covill. Commissioned by ACMI. Courtesy of the artist © Peter Waples-Crowe and ACMI.