The First Sagas

It is often said that the ability to tell stories differentiates humans from animals. These stories can be tales of survival, of emotions, and of movement across unforgiving landscapes with only the natural elements for guidance. The oldest of the stories that survive to this day have been passed down over generations for more than 60,000 years in the continent-nation of Australia, through the efforts of its indigenous communities or First Nations voices. Believed to be the oldest continuous culture on Earth, today these stories are commonly referred to as ‘songlines’. Bruce Chatwin popularised the term in the 1980s through his eponymous book. This largely oral tradition outlines the ways of life and rules of nature, which govern human interaction.

With time and the advent of technology, however, these oral traditions are being threatened. Hence, a few years ago, the indigenous communities approached the National Museum of Australia (NMA) and the Australian National University to help preserve this tradition for younger generations. The collaboration resulted in a mammoth exhibition titled Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters which took place in 2017-18 in Canberra’s NMA, before travelling to other countries. An offshoot of this project was the smaller but distinctive digital-only presentation titled Walking through a Songline, which is currently on display at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), Saket in Delhi.

An initiative of the Australian High Commission in India and KNMA, this immersive multimedia installation comes to Delhi after a stint in Mumbai’s Museum of Solutions (MuSo), and before heading to Bengaluru. The original exhibit saw the participation of over 100 First Nations voices or artists, who captured the epic oral stories through art, indigenous voices, innovative multimedia, and other
immersive displays.

“Australia has the unique privilege of being home to the world’s oldest continuous culture and it is an honour to bring Walking through a Songline to Delhi in collaboration with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. This exhibition will allow audiences to experience the ancient stories of our rich Indigenous culture and history through innovative technology. I am proud that through art, we can bring our First Nations stories and knowledge to the people of India,” says Philip Green, Australia’s High Commissioner to India.

The songlines of the First Nations people are much like creation stories from other parts of the world that involve various elements of nature and interesting characters. Margo Neale, indigenous advisor to the director of NMA, compares them to The Iliad and Odyssey but from an Australian perspective. “They are epic sagas that every major civilisation has. They’re epic sagas because they hold the truths of how to live and behave and a whole range of knowledge, so it’s about knowledge,” she explains.

The exhibition has been assembled by a curatorium of elders that belong to these indigenous communities. They were nominated as per their status, and their role wasn’t limited to merely being an advisory one. They were involved in the planning and execution of
every aspect of the final show as knowledge holders of the cultural material. To put it simply, songlines could be considered oral maps accompanied by detailed guidelines that were used by members of travelling indigenous communities. A few of these songlines are known as ‘Dreaming Pathways’ as the creator spirits were believed to have formed the tracks and spread the information through dreams. Communities would move across the vast desert with no knowledge of the difficult terrain or other dangers awaiting them, yet they knew they could rely on these stories for trusted guidance. However, songlines shouldn’t be reduced to a sort of oral GPS system, as they are very complicated and non-linear in nature. Several of the routes traditionally known about only through songlines, have become well-trodden modern highways and roads across Australia. People have varying degrees of access to these songlines. Many are shared publicly, while some are considered so sacred that they can only be revealed to the most senior custodians. “Songlines explain creation and transmit cultural values, including protocols of behaviour and how to live sustainably on this continent, as Australia’s First Nations peoples have for millennia,” summarises Nadya Sinyutina, manager, international and domestic engagement at the NMA.

One of the most prominent songlines is the one that involves the story of the Seven Sisters. The protagonists of this story leave their native land as they are being chased by Wati Nyiru, a lustful pursuer in need of a wife. The chase takes place through the country, and they traverse lands belonging to many different indigenous communities. The story begins in the western desert, in Martu Country and moves across Aangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) and Ngaanyatjarra lands. Hence, terrain and language both change frequently. The pursuer is a skilled shapeshifter and uses many disguises to trick the sisters into his possession. He takes the form of foods, water, shady trees, and a snake to beguile them. Yet, the sisters, who are also skilled in the art of shapeshifting, always remain a step ahead. Through their journey, they create songlines mapping out the land and the sky through rock formations, waterholes, and stars. Each character plays an important role as the bearer of specific knowledge. The aim is to teach humans how to navigate their surroundings by knowing where to find water, shade, food, directions and everything else they need to survive in a desert. They also learn cultural values about appropriate behaviours. By adding these human value-based elements to the stories, the elders ensured that the songlines would endure over millennia.

The two main installations at the ongoing exhibition at KNMA revolve around the story of the Seven Sisters. Travelling Kungkarangkalpa, by Sarah Kenderdine and narrated by Shellie Morris, is the first of these. This songline is based on the creation of Australia’s western and central desert landscapes by the ancestral creator through dreams. Many artworks including both paintings and sculptures, depicting the Seven Sisters—or Kungkarankalpa—and their male pursuer, Nyiru, are combined and animated to make a film. This is screened on a large dome attached to the ceiling. Comfortable pillows are strewn about to encourage the audience to view the film from the floor in a supine position, as one would listen to a fairytale.

The journey portrayed in the movie begins in the west coast of Australia and travels to the east through three deserts, as the sisters evade their pursuer. Their movements and paths highlight the distinctive features of the landscape. The art used in the film is made by
First Nations artists. Every story differs and the sisters have new challenges to face in every situation. At one time, they stop at a water body to rest, and their pursuer takes the form of a snake. To escape him, the sisters transform themselves into seven large boulders, matching the landscape of this region. New sisters are then born from these boulders and continue their journey ahead. After a long pursuit, the songline ends when the Seven Sisters fly into the sky to become the stars of the Pleiades cluster, which is forever being pursued by Nyiru, who takes the form of the Orion constellation.

The second installation is Walking through a Songline, where a space has been cordoned off for an immersive experience. The audience becomes part of the beautiful projections shown on all four walls and the floor. It’s the perfect medley of ancient knowledge and new technology as the story of the Seven Sisters and their pursuer is brought to life. Images of beautiful constellations, natural scenery, the sisters and Nyiru in various forms are the primary artworks used to animate this movie. A haunting song opens the film, before an in-depth explanation of the Seven Sisters songline is narrated by an elder.

Though the NMA exhibits from the original exhibition are limited to these two, other interactive spaces have been created at KNMA. At the very beginning, one is welcomed to the exhibition by life-sized videos of the elders, all members of the curatorium, performing a traditional welcome ritual. Passing through the first room, one is encouraged to leave their own imprint on the songline by adding their own drawings to the walls. One wall is dedicated to stickers of footprints, to signify the elders’ wisdom stating one’s human footprint should be as light as possible on the earth.

The next room contains literature for all age groups, explaining the concept of the songlines, and that of the seven sisters in particular. In this room and the others, there are also short films playing on loop. They focus on showcasing stories of different songlines. One of the films titled Goorrandalng focuses on a sacred river where women have gone for centuries to fulfil their wishes of becoming mothers. Another, called Naji, is a creation story of how the first spirit ancestors came from the ocean and walked from the west to the east in search of water, eventually finding it through collective action.

Though limited in its scope, Walking through a Songline is a fascinating teaser into the ancient and wide-sweeping culture of the aborigines of Australia. Roobina Karode, director and chief curator at KNMA, summarises its appeal, “The opening of Walking through a Songline exhibition at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art exemplifies our ongoing commitment to cross-cultural exchange and public engagement with art. This immersive experience developed by the National Museum of Australia, not only introduces the profound narratives of the Seven Sisters songline but also furthers our vision of bridging ancient legacies with contemporary audiences. By integrating innovative multimedia with traditional storytelling, the project offers a unique experience that resonates across generations and cultures. It is through such collaborations that we hope to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of shared human heritage and the wisdom of ancient cultures, through the stories of their communities and their land.”

(Walking through a Songline is on display at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Delhi, till June 30)

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Noor Anand Chawla

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