Kulininpalaju

The Kujungka exhibition, meaning ‘all coming together as one’, is the culmination of three years of collaborative programming, celebrating the spirit of cooperation and togetherness. Presented by Martumili Artists and Kanyirininpa Jukurrpa (KJ) in partnership with Tura, the visual aspects of the exhibition were developed through Martumili and KJ’s joint activities.

The sonic elements of Kujungka feature compositions created from the Kulininpalaju Sound Archive.The sounds you hear in the gallery space were made during on-Country developments in Punmu, Parnngurr and Kunawarritji communities.

The collectivity and reciprocity of Martu culture reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things, and as such this exhibition expresses the fruitful cross-pollination of diverse creative practices as an everyday Martu way of living.

The soundscape circulating within the Kujungka exhibition features a collection of recordings made with and by the communities of Parnpajinya, Jigalong, Parnngurr, Punmu, and Kunawarritji. These recordings have been collated over the past four years as part of the Kulininpalaju project, a long-term creative collaboration between Martumili Artists and Tura, which explores sound as a medium for sharing Country. Its production is informed by many conversations with people who shared knowledge, insights, and a deep curiosity about the sounds and spaces that occupy a vast stretch of land comprising one of Earth’s oldest blocks of continental crust dating back more than three billion years.

Underscoring the vivid expressions of landscapes, objects, animals and people, are sound recordings made of many of the locations represented in paint such as the springs and waterholes of Lake Dora, and the sand dunes, clay pans and spinifex that surround Punmu. Sounding across these distant places and their lively communities are the voices of excited children, troop carriers, dogs barking, and windmills and fences creaking and rattling with each gust of wind. Kujungka is the coming together of all the natural and human elements that shape the experience of space and place.

The widely distributed Martu community populates a rugged landscape comprising abundant wildlife and natural attributes shaped by extreme climate and weather. While the days are marked by the sound of human activity, the nights are eerily filled with the call of frogs and insects, and the high frequency pulse of the leaf nosed bat. At sunrise assorted birdcall penetrates the expansive desert landscape including the wedge tail eagle, whistling kite, Australian reed warbler, spinifex pigeon, finch and little grassbird. While the vista of red sand, rocky domes, spinifex, and ghost gums suggest little has changed, the amorphous sound of heavy industry, and the succession of vehicles and trains moving across the horizon are indicators of a transformed landscape.

Sound is ever present and available through the materials, people and spaces that make up this beautiful place. Tracing the many sounds of the Pilbara provides a way to consider complex social and environmental dynamics and interactions in the production of new narratives and access points. Sound artists play an increasingly vital role in observing and recording the tension between climate, landscape, technology, and human action, to demonstrate the interconnectedness of things. The recordings afford audiences a chance to experience remote and remarkable places and their communities through different aesthetic forms, and immersive and affective encounters.