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00:00I think we are more fortunate than many other countries we have been lucky because we have
00:08reached full nationhood without the fighting and bloodshed but even so our achievement of
00:14independence still represent years of planning and hard work on the part of everyone I know that
00:20every man woman and child of our new nation she has this moment of pride and happiness with one
00:27heart to join in celebrating our independence
00:30here I am in my home in Naam Melbourne where I live
00:57and where I grew up I also have my cultural ancestral and what I consider to be my actual
01:04home Rabaul in Papua New Guinea it's a big year for PNG a richly vibrant nation with over 800 languages
01:15and many more dialects 2025 marks 50 years of self-governance and independence from Australian
01:23colonial rule back in 1975 when we gained independence under the Whitlam government
01:29it meant exciting possibilities and new beginnings we have at this point in time broken with our
01:37colonial past and we now stand as an independent nation in our own right this historical moment
01:45resonates in PNG's cultural and collective memory and for some of us living in the PNG diaspora here in
01:52Australia we hold these memories close to it keeps us connected to home
01:58living in Australia and being Papua New Guinean I often wonder what home really means
02:07some of us some of us might be fortunate enough to choose the place we call home and I'm mindful
02:13this is a privilege not afforded to everyone
02:15watching stories of independent celebrations in PNG I'm reflecting on the ways PNG people are linked
02:27to the lands of our ancestors through family language food and culture there's a familiarity there even
02:38if we can't always name it being based in Australia the arts is a place where I've been able to connect
02:47with stories from PNG and also PNG artists
02:52Wendy hello and I want to talk to some of these artists to get to the heart of the question
02:59what does home mean to you and how do ideas of home shape their creativity
03:06I'm eager to have these conversations because I'm about to journey back to PNG
03:12to enjoy independent celebrations
03:15before I head to the airport though I do have to check in with a brilliant sis
03:24Wendy Mockhair is a writer who brings amazing stories from Papua New Guinea onto Australia's
03:34stages and screens and her list of credits and awards really speak for itself
03:40she's also a visual artist who documents for stories of PNG women
03:47I'm so excited
03:49yeah about going home
03:51yeah tell me about that how are you feeling about it all
03:53I don't know like home is such a big word especially when we live
03:57yeah as part of diaspora what does the word mean to you
04:01gosh um midang midang is home for me I spent most of my childhood up from the ages of like 3 to 12
04:10when I'm writing and when I'm creating it's I think like in in pictures
04:17often what comes to me is the coastline of of midang
04:20and so a lot of my plays always start with like the ocean even being away from it I can still smell it
04:27I can still see it and so a lot of my stories start there
04:29I always think of like my ground my home soil as as also something that's in internally in my
04:36brain and so I have to like water it right and so by watering it that's that's my that's my land
04:42that's away from my land yeah is the is how I feel when I come to writing and creating and and being able
04:49to use the art to stay connected to my people in my home you are such a brilliant beautiful playwright
04:58and the reason why I love your work is because I always connect to a sense of home which I don't
05:04ordinarily get living here in Australia but the ways that you elevate center and just celebrate
05:14black pacific islander stories that's very specific talk about that in terms of your craft the common
05:21perception is about the black pacific is that we're either asleep or we're just kind of standing idly
05:29by not really active in our own stories and so I like to activate us just kind of show everyone that we
05:40are here and we've always been here and really kind of then find the nuances and the ways in which we
05:48define ourselves and the way that we live and celebrate and love I want to talk about your
05:54beautiful award-winning work I am Kegu can you please explain a bit about that well it was around
06:01the time that I was training at NIDA I realized in second year that I'm going to graduate and there's
06:06going to be no roles for me because no one's writing any roles for us and I decided I'm going to write a
06:10play and around that time there was a sorcery related killing that happened up in the highlands
06:16of Papua New Guinea and that not only terrified me but it also like saddened me and so that propelled me
06:23I just wrote to be able to understand parts of my culture and then over the years it kind of grew
06:28into this play called I am Kegu well I could happily talk more with Wendy about her incredible work
06:35but alas today's not the day well I know where I need to be in the next 50 minutes or so
06:40I was at the airport but let's do that okay and what else oh can't forget the passport yeah
06:47you need the passport let's not forget that yeah all right
06:49it's tricky to verbalize how it feels to be back in PNG of course I have my life in Australia but
07:13there's a different sense of belonging here that said I'm so excited because along with a bunch of
07:20Melanesian and First Nations artists we're all finally here in Port Moresby preparations are underway
07:29for Meganesia a massive concert that forms part of pre-independence celebrations and some of my
07:36favorite musicians are in town for the show it is going to be a huge celebratory event
07:45but for now I'm just taking in the sights and sounds of Port Moresby and taking time to meet an
07:51artist whose work is a familiar sight in this city look at this I like I've seen this so many times on
08:00the internet and I can't believe that I'm now here this is Leslie Wengembel and for me his work really
08:08encapsulates home like talking home this image is it this mural is it it's all mural it's about family
08:15yeah because the when we talk about the idea of home this mural represents that from grandfather to
08:22a parent and then to a child
08:27Leslie is an iconic figure in PNG contemporary art he paints both intimate portraits and stunning public
08:34works through his hyper realist technique he has a gift for capturing the essence of his subjects from
08:42politicians and sports figures to babies and kids right through to elders I think what I find most
08:50amazing about your work is eyes you're extraordinary with capturing eyes I would say like I mustered the
08:57eyes when I was really young I used to look at all these old muscles and now the lights kind of glow in the
09:02eyes of like how to create that connection the soul in the eyes of people with PNG the eyes of like of elderly
09:11people it's so engaging when you look at them it's with love and wanting innocence also with the
09:15knowledge I grew up with my grandma for a while so like something that I that fascinates me is there
09:21the love that they give to you that's what even motivates me to do a lot of paintings of like
09:26our faces of all people is because I wanted to capture that love that that connection that knowledge
09:32that wisdom and portraying the essence of PNG that's where it comes from
09:36do you ever look at the mural and think oh maybe I should have done a little line here or
09:43most of the time most of the time well it looks perfect to me
09:47I have to say I think that beautiful face on the end is the one for me
09:55I know I'm sweating up a storm but hey let's run with it can I please give you this camera
10:00I'd love a photo in front of this one there we go okay hang on I don't want to block it off
10:11am I dripping with sweat I think yeah I think it's so not flattering but I don't care I've seen
10:16your mural now I'm happy you've seen it finally I needed juice yes for Leslie the soulful eyes of his
10:24grandmother summed up a connection to home and when I see the incredible eyes of his mural in the
10:30unique light of Port Moresby there's kind of an unspoken recognition of people whose faces I don't know
10:38and yet they feel familiar it's work like this that's kept me connected to home from afar
10:45so happy to be back here family including chosen family through friendships is an important part of
10:55building a sense of home I'm meeting up with a dear friend from Australia whose creative practice
11:03has reconnected her with our PNG heritage and that ancestral connection is adding a remarkable new
11:11dimension to her work this is Grace Dilavik she's a multi-disciplinary artist renowned for her
11:19beautiful ceramic and sculptural works I'm visiting Grace at her auntie Elizabeth's house
11:30and before we sit down for a chat they're cooking up a very special treat
11:35óPoi seo a flatbread made with coconut and sago
11:38we always go for the orange sago why orange?
11:46it's dried in the sun
11:48sago is a prized food within Grace's Morduan roots
11:52her ancestors crafted unique earthenware pots to trade cook and store this precious resource
11:58resource and the magic is done and now that rich history forms an integral part
12:08of Grace's creativity my ancestors because we use clay as a very practical
12:16source to create our food to store our sago so I wanted to know exactly what
12:24that meant in terms of who we were where we came from I realized having conversations with the
12:31elders that our people would make these Mutuan pots and I asked around to see who is making
12:39these pots still and it's really an art form that is sort of dying that only a few people know how
12:47to make these pots now there was one elder that was still around that was teaching the younger
12:53generations these pots and she is Aunty Lahui Arua who is 104 years of age living in Pura
13:01Butter I'm sitting with her learning from her the methodology of how we would make these pots
13:07going into the bush digging for the clay going down to the ocean and getting the salt water
13:14and then bringing it back to the village to create the body of clay to then work with the clay
13:20connecting with this craft has made grace consider what home really means and how that relates to
13:28the art she makes whilst at home in Melbourne a lot of my practice began as like intuitive forms just
13:36playing around with clay and just touching clay and when I was doing it I found great peace and a
13:44sense of home in maybe the familiarity with like the earth in the backyard of my place I've dug a hole
13:53which is a mumu you know where we cook in the ground in Papua New Guinea but it also is where I fire my
14:00pieces there's something really grounding about using fire as a natural way to harden and create something
14:08into a permanent object home for me when I was little just meant a place where I lived I think more and more home is
14:18becoming my actual lineage of home being here in Papua New Guinea we don't have the language to be able to describe what this
14:27means to me but it's extremely special and really sacred actually and the feeling for me is familiar
14:36in the experience of the sound and the textures and the feelings I remember what it is to be home
14:46Grace's story tells us that art can enrich and clarify our sense of home
15:00but in many western museums and galleries artworks that have a strong cultural relationship
15:08to place and people have found themselves removed often without context from their country of origin
15:15So does art itself have a home? Our resident art historian Mary McGillivray explores this question with
15:24someone who thinks about it a lot
15:27In the days of the British Empire things were taken they now live in museums, galleries and some much stranger places
15:37I wanted to ask you a bit about the language that you used talking about the stuff the British stole
15:42you used the phrase contested objects why why that phrase because there's always more than one
15:49perspective on these objects if there was only one perspective it was legal and it's fine or it was
15:55stolen it's not fine then there would be no show the objects are a doorway into a bigger history and the
16:01way you get there is by different perspectives how do you decide if an object is stolen or not I'm quite
16:07assiduous about not making a judgement on whether something is or isn't stolen
16:12often what I find is the object is a talisman for broader theft what I have noticed over the years is
16:19this there's a handful of objects that attract a lot of attention the Parthenon marbles is an obvious one
16:24there's lots of First Nations objects have been taken not just from Australia but from Canada the Pacific
16:30America and those objects get a lot of attention and then like it's stolen it was taken and sometimes
16:36that's true and sometimes it's not but what is undeniably true is those objects are a a tether for a much
16:44broader theft of land culture of identity these objects they get to illuminate a bigger and more
16:51complicated history that we are all still grappling with so these objects are kind of like conduits for
16:57seeking justice for a broader injustice yeah yeah I think they are this space to be able to say
17:03actually you know what technically legally not stolen but what else is going on here what else is going
17:12on around this moment that we haven't dealt with what I am adamant about is tell the truth but how it got
17:19there because that's what makes me angry it was collected in a punitive mission you mean you massacred
17:25people is that what you mean that's the shit that drives me up the wall
17:28do you think that objects have a true home whether it's a legal home a sort of spiritual home ethically
17:40a home it's a wonderful question on mass no I do not believe that every object has a singular home
17:50individually every object that sits in a museum in a gallery has its own journey has its own story has
17:57its own injustices what I find most interesting is that as these objects move through time and space
18:05they actually acquire more story and what I love to do is the unravelling of that if you actually want
18:13to learn from the objects why not ask the people where it came from and not be afraid that there
18:19will they will instantly want it back but maybe more often than not I find lots of source communities
18:24they just want to say in how that story is told and they want to tell their history there can be more
18:31than one truth and reality at the same time and concurrent histories are the full picture right it's about the
18:38mass but history is messy welcome back to nicksville mega genset radio 10101 am now with me live in the
18:49studio on your mobile phone is sprigamek three kings and myself rifa bella one time
18:55music is a big part of my life and a big way I connect with home award-winning png hip-hop artist
19:06sprigamek is one of the performers at the meganesia concert and he has a huge following his songs very
19:16much speak to his story of being papa new guinean and his flows represent the multiple languages of
19:21his heritage so I can rap in makeo or more to English speaking and aroma and still collecting a few
19:29languages and I stick to the essence and the roots of hip-hop being a voice for the voiceless representing
19:35the struggle and try to tell it how it is I've been a rebel since I was a kid so you know yeah I started
19:44with a graffiti art and you know breakdance and stuff and I kind of realized I had an affinity to
19:51hip-hop with the storytelling and png has gone through massive changes on the journey from colonialism
20:00to self-governance and independence there's been social and political upheaval these shifts inevitably
20:08have an impact on the nation and sprigga's songs speak to those impacts tell us about the ways that
20:15you share stories of moorsby in your music I was born and bred here for moorsby so I've lived to see
20:21you know the changes over the over the my years on earth and I think that's one thing you know as an
20:27artist we have a moral obligation to society you know give back I see my surroundings I see what's
20:34happening I just you know put it into song and just shade with with my audience and I feel as an
20:40artist you know we're we're messengers of change and messengers of you know hope at the same time
20:46what do you hope for the next 50 years for png I don't we'll ever see real realistic tangible change
20:57in my lifetime we still have our ups and downs in the current economy and you know everyone's really
21:04feeling the I wouldn't say pinch but punch this is still home home it'll never change this is the
21:10land we were born into and I still love my country I still believe there's hope we gotta stand up and
21:15fight for it and try to make a change you know best way we can yeah tell me where is the place where
21:21you feel most at home for me personally when I'm on stage really that's like to me that's complete
21:29freedom the MC mentions my name and I mentally switch from Alan into speaker make the artist
21:43hearing Sprigga's passion for png storytelling is powerful as home changes around us our ideas of
22:02what that means does require truth tellers to speak to the challenges but it's also important to celebrate
22:10the winds and at the sir hubert murray stadium which is where independence actually took place back in
22:171975 preparations are underway for a truly epic celebration the meganesia concert has an astounding
22:27number of moving parts roadies crew not to mention over a hundred aboriginal zenad cares west papuan
22:36and png artists and performers it's a whirlwind of activity with a surprisingly chilled out artistic
22:45director ari lecker ingram we're getting ready for the big night we're close i'm not sleeping i'm not
22:56sleeping i'll sleep after the show yeah
22:59iri known as iri lecker is a prominent name proudly bringing pacific culture to stages around the world
23:10he's an aria nominated musician and producer master percussionist as well as being an artistic director
23:18of some of the largest musical and cultural events across the pacific
23:22he's even tried to teach me to play drums on national television
23:27and as you can see i needed to stick to my day job
23:36as a champion of contemporary cultural music i'm curious to hear about iris concept of home
23:45mostly you know my home where i guess my roots is in gabagaba central province png but you know i guess
23:54home is where love is you know that's really what it means to me so as a musician what sounds or
24:01instruments immediately remind you of home uh definitely gabba in which is the kundu drum
24:09my village is called gabagaba and in english that means drum drum even in torres strait they call it
24:16warup west papa they call it tifa and kenji you call it kundu when my grandfather taught me you know
24:24he would say that the gabba makes your blood move the actual beat is like the heartbeat you know
24:32is this kind of a beat it really pulls you in you know like you belong with this drum
24:39yeah that sound always you know straight away back to my village when i was taught then by more
24:47contemporary musicians when i was young they used to tell me you know your passport don't take you
24:53around the world this drum takes you around the world and that's been my life story i totally get
24:59what iri is saying here and it's a common feeling living in the diaspora that certain sensory moments
25:05create an evocative and unmistakable pull back to our motherlands many of the meganesian performers
25:13travel for a living and have their own unique concept of home including west papuan brothers and
25:20dancers in the show sam and yoshua how does movement and dance connect you to that place of home
25:27we both came to ashela as refugee i was 12 he was 15 and now we are living in two worlds you know
25:35i'm leaving my home but i'm also creating home here every time we came together as a band we feel home
25:41you know all the drumming all the song we sing is remind us about home so it's like home homes bring
25:46family joy peaceful and freedom and at the rehearsal before the big event i'm particularly thrilled to
25:54see music artist yoramal with close family connections to yothu yindi he continues an important legacy
26:02and tradition of bringing his yongu language music and culture to audiences in moorsby
26:09and at meganesia he'll be performing with members from the legendary yothu yindi can we take a minute
26:17for your bilong look at that you've got your beautiful bilas already i'm carrying all my family
26:22now yes from footlessville yeah and i'll take it back to the australia tell me how it's been for you
26:29i'm thoroughly enjoying it at the moment seeing the beautiful people want talk people from this country
26:35and celebrating with them for this 50 years anniversary yeah yeah i'm looking forward to it
26:41and sharing my spirit about my home yes yes yeah yeah yeah
26:50ah love all the way love happy 50th birthday png
26:58being in port moresby watching this incredible lineup of artists celebrate 50 years of png independence
27:04well it's an incredibly moving experience there's an explosion of culture and pride and so much joy and
27:14connection on stage
27:21i'm thinking back to all the artists i've connected with on this trip and the different perspectives they've
27:26generously shared about home through the traditions that connect us across generations
27:32the people and family that nurture our souls the music and dance that allows us to celebrate
27:40and locate our relationships with land and with each other
27:51home is an elusive concept that's tricky to nail down but what i've come to realize is you definitely
27:57know it when you feel it so proud about so many things in particular our sense of community
28:07you know being part of a tribe and it doesn't matter where you are in the world
28:11you know you belong somewhere and your people will call you home they'll always call you home
28:17for me it's that feeling of true belonging where how you show up and what you share of yourself in the
28:23world makes sense where people and place ground you in the most poignant ways everyone who we've spoken to
28:31about home has spoken about home being a sense of security safety and belonging and i very much feel
28:40that here it is such a weird thing to say but walking around and seeing faces that look like mine
28:47and then connecting with artists who take so much pride in sharing our culture and you know beautiful
28:57specific parts of our customs yeah it's it's amazing being home
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