Arterial | Na Djinang
I was deeply moved by the work of Na Djinang’s Arterial. After the show I was stupefied by it’s meaning and the beauty in it’s delivery. Soft and strong, non-gendered and sophisticated. I had to sit in my seat for a while after and just contemplate everything, bringing up questions – what is my own relationship to this continent’s history and my relationship as an ally to Australia’s first peoples? This performance for me showcased the new storytellers of our time, the holders, and caretakers of ancestral message. The work of Arterial to me was a deep dive into what it means to be living now, as a First Nations person in so-called Australia. Ritual and Relationship a strong theme throughout, upheld in a deep respect of Country, Culture and Self.
Image + cover image: Tiffany Garvie
As we enter the Ron Hurley theatre, several artsy looking people filled the lobby. I got the sense even then, that there was a knowing amongst the audience. That we were all in for something special, eyes meeting mine almost as if to say – oh – if you’re here for this, you must have some element of knowing then. I knew little of the production as I like to enter these spaces naïve, not having formed identity on what the piece might be but to allow it to unfurl before me, and for me to respond as it happened. What I did know was that this was a crew from Melbourne, a First Nations troupe known as Na Djinang. The word Arterial connecting to blood lines, river systems, veins and pathways that are life giving.
The stellar cast of four members were dressed in everyday clothing. Nothing showy. Earthy colours. No leotards. No lycra. Just everyday people. All members were on stage together weaving between each other as people in the audience found their seats, honouring and arranging the still green eucalypt leaves in diagonal formations, straight lines, broken lines, wavy lines, it came up for me that maybe these were representations of song lines? The song lines that explained the terrain and relationship to the history that came before. Preparing the space for ceremony. The leaves were eventually pushed to the outskirts of the stage, outlining the boundaries, representing the pushing out of tens of thousands of years of knowledges into the background of post-modernism thought. How could this ancient wisdom transfer into something tangible that we needed in modern times?
Image: Tiffany Garvie
A member provided an acknowledgement of the Turrbal and Jagera peoples. The four stood in form facing each other, together, arms wrapped around each other holding the words in their bodies, speaking them to each other irrespective of audience present. It felt like they were doing an acknowledgement for them, we happened to be there, but the authenticity felt was of genuine intent. An acknowledgement like this I had never witnessed before, it was embodied ritualization for all of us to remember the importance of this being the beginning of every act we perform to ground us in place. The deep audible breaths that followed, helped me take a big deep one too and it formed the only dialogue, bar four words later spoken, but I wont spoil that for you here.
The scenes came hard and fast and spilling into each other with seamless effort. One of the performers working with clap sticks beckoning every one into the space, the reverberation of clap sticks sending me into goosebumps. Each connection of the two sticks, eventually quickening in timing and repetition, delayed and ricocheted off the theatre walls back onto stage and through all of us. The dance and movement of each performer was spell binding.
A white tissue was cast down from the high rigging and for me representations of colonisations sudden invasion spoke through. The soundscape of boats, people, a city bustling. As she moved up slowly through the web of colonisations grasp in this tissue act, you could sense her determination amidst frustration. Rising and falling and rising again, as many First Peoples do in the bureaucracy.
A feeling of celebration of the existing culture back into and into the destruction of it. Birth and death. Rising rates of suicide. Ongoing genocide. Rising numbers of deaths in custody. Rising numbers of Aboriginal representations in parliament. Falling numbers in closing the gap on Aboriginal Health issues. I felt all of these present throughout.
Image: Tiffany Garvie
The overall performance provided a huge essence of solidarity in the relationship and group work. Our Relationship with other humans being one of the strongest influences on how to navigate the trickiness of the issues aforementioned. Striving to challenge the idea of perfectionism. There was a moment that they didn’t land a move perfectly but celebrated that. They were okay with it, perhaps there was a discussion amongst them prior to say, you know what: it’s okay that it isn’t perfect. Perfection is a colonised mindset, and that doesn’t belong here. Not being perfect a nod to the new storytellers for First Nations people. How do the young people feel about their indigeneity? They have rights to tell their story. How does one even begin to feel connected to it all after the experience of Stolen Generations and the white washing of Culture. It dumbfounds me to think about this as a Pasifika person living in diaspora often exoticized to be someone who has connection to land, can navigate using the stars, knows of my pre-colonial history, knows and speaks language, when in actuality – I’ve grown up in the cities that my parents migrated to and quickly having to assimilate to the mainstream Eurocentric culture.
In a final scene one of the performers starts pacing around in circles, circling what I wondered? Was he going in circles repeating pathways that were of despair and desperation? Was he propelling himself into action and working his way around the issues First Nations people face with poverty, broken families, intergenerational trauma, native title and land claims and the desecration of sacred sights to name a few . Each time he circumnavigated the stage one of the other three would intervene with gestural support and care, to perhaps help him to slow down, or to stop altogether. He just kept pushing through, casting away each attempt with resilience to continue. Eventually he quickened in his strides till he was running. As the pace speeded up the ‘interventions’ became more intense, throwing everything they had at him to change the orbit of this pathway he was on, each collision a relationship with others on his journey, whatever it was he seemed to be running to or from.
The heartbeat of the motherland grounded me throughout this work, the use of clap sticks, beating of their chests and sweeping off energy, reverberating guttural vocals in language. As they beat their chests and walked toward the audience, I felt them cleverly exposing the commonality within all of us. Arteries. Blood. Atoms. Human experience.
In reflection the essence of this work to me is drawing on the strength of existing bloodlines and how Art, Circus, Physical Theatre helps to continue the stories, interpret them in ways that provide more access and through this to survive, thrive and resurrect it in new ways with new story being formed as we go. Literal balancing on the shoulders of ancestral knowledge that encapsulates the meaning of Pride and Respect of Culture, Country and Connection. Arterial, an absolute must see. A work worthy of global recognition, and relatable to all First Nations peoples across all continents. They held me, schooled me and made me better for having been there. Thankyou Na Djinang for your conviction and execution of such an important story.
