Creative development # 6 in Naarm (Melbourne – October 2023)
Creative development #4 in Taiwan (March 2023)
Creative development #3 in Arnhem Land (November 2022)
GAPU NGUPAN
(CHASING THE RAINBOW)
Gapu Ngupan (formerly titled The Voyage of Bayini) is a powerful and joyous new cross-cultural performance piece in music, song dance and video projection, 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 12 Yolngu, Paiwan and Amis singers, dancers, and multi-instrumentalists, supported by sound design and video projection. Gapu Ngupan is a fully-self determined First Nations work.
Key artists & personnel
Rachael Wallis – co-director, choreographer
Suming Rupi – co-director, composer
Arian Pearson – co-director, music producer
Banula Marika – Songman and cultural custodian, performer
Seredau Tariyaljan – Paiwan song woman, performer
Performers – Piya Talaliman, Ljaucu Talimaraw, Ngalkanbuy Mungungurr, Milika Blackie-Smith, Serene ‘Dubs’ Yunupingu
Samuel James – Video artist
Cudjui Tjapalji – Sound engineer
Artback NT & Kath Papas Productions
Co-producers, Australia
Dremedreman Curimudjuq, Hui Jia Creatives
Co-producer, Taiwan
Richard Mann (November 2022)
Rangarang Curimudju (March 2023)
Gregory Lorenzutti (October 2023)
Photography
Links to project partners
Support and Acknowledgement
AUSTRALIA
Arts Centre Melbourne/Asia TOPA
Major Festivals Initiative
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Australia Council for the Arts
Indigenous Languages and Arts Program
TAIWAN
Ministry of Culture
Council of Indigenous People
CO-PRODUCED by
Miku Performance Arts
Hui Jia Creatives
Artback NT
Kath Papas Productions
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 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. The work will be ready for festival presentations from 2024/5.
Our latest promotional video is at the top of this page, and below is our video history of the project.
The two Asia TOPA Virtal Labs videos were commissioned for inclusion in the National Museum of Australia in the Asia TOPA exhibition, September 2022 – February 2023 – see more.
