Gapu Ngupan (Chasing the Rainbow) is a powerful and joyous new cross-cultural performance piece in music, song, dance, immersive video and sound design, being created by a group of First Nations artists from Arnhem Land and Taiwan with ancient ancestral connections. At its heart are Yolngu stories about how other nations journeyed to and interacted with Yolngu people millenia before the recent European voyages. It speaks to Australia’s true and rich history, and celebrates our place in the world.
It is a work of scale to be performed in theatres at major festivals by an ensemble of 8 Yolngu and Paiwan singers, dancers, and multi-instrumentalists. Gapu Ngupan is a fully-self determined First Nations work, created and produced by Miku Performing Arts, Hui Jia Creatives, Kath Papas Productions and Artback NT Inc.
Key artists & personnel
Rachael Wallis – Co-artistic director, choreographer
Suming Rupi – Co-artistic director, composer
Banula Marika – Songman and cultural director, performer
Seredau Tariyaljan – Paiwan song woman, performer
Performers – Piya Talaliman, Ljaucu Talimaraw, Ngalkanbuy Mungungurr, Ineke Wallis, Loretta Yunupingu, Temu Masin
Samuel James – Video artist
Arian Ganambarr Pearson – sound designer
Karen Norris – lighting designer
Peta Strachan – costume designer
Cudjui Tjapalji – Sound engineer
Alejandro Rolandi – Production manager
Artback NT Inc & Kath Papas Productions
Co-producers, Australia
Dremedreman Curimudjuq, Hui Jia Creatives
Co-producer, Taiwan
Photography by Samuel James
Links to project partners
The project & its development to date
Rachael Wallis, AD of Miku Performing Arts, first met and collaborated with Seredau Tariyaljan during participation in Artback NT’s 2018 Taiwan Indigenous Artist in Residency Program. In 2020 ACM/Asia TOPA and APAM’s Blak LAB facilitated these three artists, together with another 2 artists from Taiwan & 3 artists from Yirrkala, to travel to Melbourne and share a creative space. Here they began discussion and planning of the new work.
Creative development took place on country in Arnhem Land and in Taiwan over 2021, supported by Asia TOPA Virtal Labs, with the artists collaborating remotely. The two Asia TOPA Virtal Labs videos produced during the COVID pandemic were commissioned for inclusion in the National Museum of Australia in the Asia TOPA exhibition, September 2022 – February 2023 – see more.
The teams came back together in person in late 2022, with a creative development in North East Arnhem Land, and a reciprocal visit to Taiwan for two weeks in March 2023, followed by multiple stages of filming and creative development in 2024.
Our latest promotional video is at the top of this page, and below is our video history of the project.
Created and produced by
Asia TOPA season
Development of Gapu Ngupan was also supported by
