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00:03when I was 12 I broke my back a doctor said I'm really sorry you're not gonna be able to
00:13move
00:14again so I spent quite a lot of time in the children's ward at the hospital and much later
00:22many years later somebody was working on my back they were pressing on my back and suddenly boom
00:33I was back in the hospital it was the sudden very vivid memory
00:40and it was not the way I told the story I was remembering children uh crying it was this
00:49incredible smell of medicine and this darkness and the sounds of this hospital all these kids
00:57I had erased from my mind so I'm like wait a second who's telling this story
01:06each event really am I remembering I'm now overlaying another story as I'm telling you
01:13this story every time you recall something it's different but you tell the story that you can tell
01:45it's funny how memories work you know the ways that we attach stories to them and how they change
01:51over time why do some stick others slip away and some appear when you least expect them
02:00what I want to know is how do we hold on to the memories that matter
02:10so I'm heading to meet artists who capture document and help us understand memories
02:19and I think I know just where to start
02:31I did soundcheck makeup then meet and greet no no designer came for the dress meet and greet
02:38photo shoot yep a day in the life of a loke is a lot poet performer fashion icon activist we
02:46are so
02:47fucking powerful their presence spends time place and expectation hi I'm a loke in tonight's show I'm
02:56going to be weaving comedy with poetry because I identify as a pretentious piece of shit
03:05a lot performance uses the memories that shaped them to connect with audiences in over 40 countries in
03:14turn creating powerful new ones photo shoot and then now this without the show sleep sleep that's
03:22important you know the Trisha go see rest is resistance tell me in comedy how do you choose
03:30what to use and what to leave out when it comes to memory every single day I write down what
03:36I do what
03:37I think what I feel so that when I'm working on a new show I don't have to start from
03:40scratch I can go
03:41back to my memory and say it wasn't it so funny when this thing happened I was recently back home
03:46in Texas and my uber driver was like a lock that's the strangest name I've ever seen how do you
03:56spell
03:56that I mean it's written right there on the phone screen actually I'm constantly in conversation with
04:04past versions of myself I was excited to learn about a new culture too so I asked my driver in
04:09that hand what his name meant in his culture are there particular memories that continuously show up
04:20in your work yes so many so I have so many stories from just growing up in Texas as a
04:27kid and some of
04:29the most horrendous racism xenophobia homophobia I was experiencing tonight I want to make the argument
04:35that trans people are human so now as an adult I get to go back into those painful memories and
04:44use
04:44humor to kind of detoxify them by which I mean insufferable just like you I know as a student of
04:54history it's not a question of if it's a question of when we will be erased and so I see
04:58memory as a
04:59political project we have to document that we were here and we have to become so flagrant and so
05:05flamboyant that any attempt to kind of expunge us from the record won't work in revisiting particular
05:11memories do you find a look that they change over time 100% some of the most painful things that
05:19I've
05:19gone through now no longer faze me what do you hope people take away from the memories that you share
05:27the wrong stages permission permission to be complex permission to be human because memory is one of
05:36the most beautiful things that makes us human when grandpa died the hospice nurses told us that his death
05:44would be painless I mistakenly thought that meant it would be quick love means noticing everything about
05:54someone developing an acute sensitivity to the aliveness of everything they touch and that's
06:00precisely why it's so lethal because then you end up missing everything when it's gone I think one of the
06:09defining features of our species is our capacity to dream and our capacity to remember
06:26as a look steps up to share their memories with a packed house their ideas have me thinking
06:37some of my most cherished memories come from my homeland Papua New Guinea but also Melbourne where I grew up
06:48and these artists bring those worlds together all while holding onto treasured memories the Tatana Village
06:57choir all the way from Port Moresby proudly walking through Naam led by Aaron Shulai artistic director of the
07:05Australian Art Orchestra hey Wanta hello I'm excited because the choir have invited me to the playhouse
07:18in Melbourne for a sneak peek of the final dress rehearsal for their show Ane Ta'abia
07:25Ane Ta'abia in Moatu translated it really means sing a song like Ane Abia it's like
07:36this is the sound of Peraveta a unique choral tradition in Moatuan culture the musical form was born during 19th
07:53century colonization combining the hymns of western missionaries with traditional Papuan harmonies
08:03but for many like Aaron it carries something deeper a bond with home through memory
08:12my connection to it is I was born in Papua New Guinea and when I moved to Australia all I
08:21wanted to do was
08:21to fit in and so I ignored any type of cultural connection to PNG to me it was kind of
08:30embarrassing
08:30the food that we ate wasn't the same as other people the music listened to wasn't the same we didn't
08:34speak the same language
08:37but there is one language that's universal Aaron would find a place to belong in jazz
08:44and it would take him across the world from Melbourne to New York to Tokyo
08:52but music has a way of circling back and eventually he would reconnect with the sounds of his past
09:00when I was 19 my mother passed away and I went back to Port Moresby and throughout that whole period
09:09people would just start singing Peraveta
09:11I remember sitting outside with my uncles listening to the music I was like this is some of the most
09:20beautiful music I've ever heard
09:24and now as a composer Aaron is creating something new by combining the musical memories of his family and childhood
09:31with the traditions of jazz improvisation
09:46a lot of the music we participate in has a dark history associated with it and and people have suffered
09:52for and it was something culturally and it's powerful to be reminded of that because it makes the motivation to
09:59turn this thing into something beautiful
10:04it takes me back to my childhood days looking at my grandparents I'm also in tears remembering how they held
10:13on to the Peraveta
10:17we are so proud of it because what has been so long within us is now coming out to the
10:23well
10:41what a note to end off on
10:44wow I gotta say I'm kind of blown away
10:50to take memories so painful beautiful and complex and reshape them into something healing is truly special
11:02but memories are more than just personal
11:05they're also institutional shaped by the places that collect display and claim to preserve them
11:14to see how institutions decide which memories to keep and how these stories shape Australia's identity
11:21I'm heading to meet art historian Mary McGillivray
11:27it's so great
11:30so I've got something pretty special to show you
11:32Namilla this is an image of the first public art gallery in Australia
11:38and here we have a scene of this hall Queen's Hall as it was set up originally as an art
11:44gallery as a picture gallery for the public
11:47what I find particularly fascinating about this image though is really how little has changed in 150 years since this
11:55gallery opened
11:56and look at the people who are milling about I'm not seeing any sisters in me Mary
12:02unfortunately there's a lot of bonnets and petticoats instead
12:05there sure are
12:07and also a very middle class crowd
12:09yeah it still feels very recognisable
12:12what's changed right
12:14and it's kind of wild when you think about arts institutions and the objects and collections that they have within
12:20and how it really shapes ideas of nationhood and national identity
12:25art galleries and museums are obviously making decisions all the time about what they collect what they keep
12:31and these types of collections in the 19th century prioritized European artworks colonial Australian artworks
12:39they didn't consider First Nations people and their artworks as being important to hold for the public in a public
12:46gallery
12:46so I think when we think about institutions the institutional memory that carries so much of our national identity
12:54is something that we need to interrogate we need to look at images like this
12:57think about what's missing not just what's there
13:00well I've loved seeing both of these books I'm a bit disappointed though that there were no white gloves
13:06I thought I could feel official with doing that but let's keep moving Mary thank you for this
13:12yep no white gloves for me but maybe that's for the best
13:17because holding onto memories doesn't have to mean locking them away behind glass
13:23for some the memories that matter belong on the streets
13:28which brings me to Aretha Brown
13:31my role as an Aboriginal artist is about telling memories that have been forgotten or selectively forgotten
13:38so that makes me need a cuppa let's go and grab one yeah let's go
13:43wow yeah look at that pool
13:46for Aretha keeping memories alive
13:48hey you mob so we've just finished our big work here in Tokyo
13:51means keeping them loud and proud
13:54we're always in solidarity with mob all over the world
13:57she founded the kiss my art collective in 2019 planting large-scale public murals around the world
14:04from Tokyo to Toronto
14:06New York London and Timor-Leste
14:10get some photos as well
14:11yeah definitely
14:12to right here at home
14:14you'll be a mere distant memory
14:22aretha's campaign to challenge the power
14:24of institutional memory
14:25began in the most familiar institution of them all
14:29yeah so I remember I like only finished high school a couple years ago
14:32and I moved at that point in time from living with my mum and community
14:36up in northern New South Wales to living with my dad in the city
14:38which was like a big change for me
14:39and I remember yeah I would walk pretty much into history class
14:42and there would be our history textbook and the first page would be you know
14:46the Aboriginal people here
14:48the next 400 pages would be all colonial history
14:51yeah I would then go home and I'd talk to Nan on the phone
14:54and we'd be talking about stuff that's still relevant
14:56you know her history with the stolen generations
14:59Uncle Gary Foley in the tent embassy
15:01and just like incredible important black history in this country
15:05and I would go to school and I'd want to talk about them and have no answers
15:08but we weren't learning about any of that
15:10and so I always felt like kind of an educationally gaslit
15:13you know I was like
15:15I feel crazy
15:16that's the term
15:17educationally gaslit
15:18because I knew that this stuff
15:19shaped by that experience
15:25Aretha falls back
15:27let's make it angrier
15:30and started making new memories
15:33like the cars like that
15:34that have been like
15:34hey Dave
15:35someone called the police
15:40how do you choose what stories to put on those walls
15:43I really like responding to what's happening now
15:45as well as mixing in historical moments and historical figures and stories that I also think is important
15:52but it's also important for me physically as a young Aboriginal woman to paint that work
15:56and for people to see me painted
16:00because there's been moments where I've been in another country
16:03even the UK
16:03where someone came up to me and said
16:05oh I didn't even know Aboriginal people still existed
16:08what?
16:08yeah
16:08can you believe that?
16:10so for me it's about decolonizing
16:12by literally taking up space
16:14with my body
16:15not only as an Aboriginal person
16:16but as a woman
16:19I mean I think
16:20art is a really great way to do that
16:28aretha
16:29so good to chat
16:30we haven't even eaten
16:30I know
16:31should we try
16:31I'm going to tuck more into it
16:33aretha's shown me how memories aren't just stories we tell
16:36by holding on to the ones that matter
16:38and fighting for them
16:40they can promote change
16:42and help us let go of false narratives
16:46but what happens when memory meets technology
16:50is the cloud just a digital dumping ground?
16:53or in a modern world
16:54can computers save the memories that really matter?
17:00are you good?
17:01I'm a fucking 40
17:02are you alright?
17:03you got it
17:04oh look at that
17:05okay alright
17:06okay here's a clap for you
17:08I know you're never going to use that
17:09but
17:09take one
17:10Laurie Anderson
17:12my man I was just leaving
17:13for nearly five decades
17:15she's embraced technology
17:16in the most unexpected ways
17:20a pioneering artist
17:22she's woven together music
17:24performance
17:25visual art
17:26and cinema
17:27crafting experiences
17:29that defy definition
17:30I met this guy
17:32at the heart of it
17:34Laurie is a storyteller
17:36to walk around
17:37in my dreams
17:38who explores the past
17:40present
17:41and future
17:42you've been on this road before
17:44so how does Laurie
17:46explore the domain
17:48of memory?
17:53you have a long
17:56and wonderful history
17:57of working with
17:58art and technology
18:00can you tell us about
18:01the
18:01I'll be your mirror
18:03project?
18:04I got the chance
18:05to do that
18:06in Adelaide
18:07at the Machine Learning Institute
18:08and I got there
18:10and they said
18:10okay
18:11this is the largest
18:12language supercomputer
18:14in the world
18:15you're the artist
18:16and resident
18:16what do you want it to do?
18:18anyway
18:18I said
18:18let's teach this supercomputer
18:20to read the Bible
18:21they took everything
18:22that I've ever written
18:23said
18:24or recorded
18:25or whatever
18:26and they crossed it
18:27with the Bible
18:28and for some
18:29it was the inevitable
18:30last stage
18:31and I was like
18:32this sounds like me
18:34it was in my language
18:35the ways I was talking
18:39I felt I wrote
18:40that Bible
18:41and then Laurie
18:43tried feeding
18:44the same machine
18:45the words
18:46of her late husband
18:47the Velvet Underground
18:48frontman
18:49and pop icon
18:50Lou Reed
18:51can we talk about
18:53AI Laurie
18:54and AI Lou
18:56and creating together?
18:59well
18:59obviously
18:59I don't think
19:00that I'm making songs
19:01with my dead husband
19:02but we did
19:08it's really pretty hideous
19:10because it doesn't
19:10have a sense of humour
19:11I can't get into it
19:12I'm not looking for it
19:14it doesn't have his laugh
19:16you don't hear him breathing
19:17because machines
19:18don't need to breathe
19:20when a machine
19:21starts speaking
19:22in your voice
19:23telling stories
19:24in the words
19:25of your loved ones
19:27it raises
19:28a strange
19:29kind of question
19:30exactly who
19:31is in charge
19:33here
19:34if memory
19:35can be simulated
19:36rewritten
19:37or reassembled
19:39then what
19:40makes it truly yours?
19:43what does memory
19:44mean to you?
19:46I have come
19:47to the conclusion
19:48that there's no such
19:49thing as memory
19:50for example
19:51I was asked to write
19:52a book of memoirs
19:53I want to tell you
19:54a story
19:55about a story
19:57and one of those stories
19:59it was called
20:00a story about a story
20:02when I was 12
20:05I was jumping off
20:06a high board
20:07and I thought
20:08I'm going to do
20:09a triple flip
20:11it was really hard
20:12and I ended
20:14landed on the side
20:15of the pool
20:15and I broke my back
20:17so I was
20:19in a race
20:20like this
20:23for two years
20:2412 to 14
20:26and then
20:28much later
20:29many years later
20:30somebody asked me
20:31what it was like
20:32in the hospital
20:32and suddenly
20:35boom
20:37I was back
20:38in the hospital
20:40I was in the unit
20:41with the burn victims
20:42and there was
20:44the sounds
20:44of all these children
20:46all night
20:47screaming
20:49and it was
20:50not the way
20:50I told the story
20:53I had
20:55forgotten
20:56all of this
20:57so
20:58I'm not sure
21:00sometimes
21:00what really
21:02is in the past
21:03you get your story
21:08and you hold
21:10on to it
21:12and every time
21:14you tell it
21:14you forget it
21:18Mar
21:24as much
21:25as we're
21:26compelled
21:26to hold
21:27on to
21:27our
21:27dearest
21:28memories
21:29Laurie's
21:30work
21:30is a reminder
21:31they're neither
21:32fixed
21:32or forever
21:37but even
21:38as they
21:39fade
21:39through art
21:40our memories
21:41can still
21:42have an
21:43extraordinary
21:43impact
21:46my name is
21:47Glade McLaughlin
21:48and I'll be
21:48presenting a
21:49program about
21:50the role of
21:50women during
21:51the war
21:53these tapes
21:54were recorded
21:54by an award
21:55winning
21:55oral historian
21:59who spent
21:59much of her
22:00life documenting
22:01other people's
22:02memories
22:07and I've
22:08come to
22:08meet her
22:09today
22:10lovely to
22:11meet you
22:12I actually
22:13met Glade
22:14two years
22:14ago
22:17there's a
22:18reason
22:18Glade
22:18doesn't
22:19remember
22:19for 10
22:20years
22:21she's been
22:22living
22:22with advanced
22:23Alzheimer's
22:26and for
22:27the past
22:2840 years
22:29best friend
22:29Cheryl
22:30has been
22:31by her
22:31side
22:32sometimes
22:33I say
22:33to her
22:34who am
22:34I
22:34so I
22:34can be
22:35the
22:35secretary
22:35I can
22:36be
22:36the
22:37carer
22:37I can
22:37be
22:37the
22:38driver
22:38but
22:39there's
22:39one
22:40area
22:40we're
22:41glad
22:41now
22:42let's
22:42see
22:42if
22:42we
22:43can
22:43play
22:43this
22:43we'll
22:44always
22:44have
22:45the
22:45upper
22:45hand
22:45have
22:46I got
22:46it up
22:47the
22:47right
22:47way
22:47the
22:48other
22:48way
22:48around
22:48I
22:56think
22:56we
22:56better
22:57not
22:57sing
22:57it
22:57I
22:58can't
22:59you
23:06incredibly
23:06even
23:07as
23:07glad's
23:08memory
23:08deteriorates
23:09her
23:10lifelong
23:10connection
23:11to
23:11music
23:11remains
23:15This led to participating in a research project studying the impact choir singing could have
23:21for people living with dementia and their care partners.
23:26Out of it came the Rewire Musical Memories Choir, where daughter Helen, along with Glad
23:32and Cheryl come to sing every Friday.
23:36Sorry Glad, they're going to make a fuss of you.
23:38You're not camera shy or anything are you?
23:39I don't know what's happening.
23:43That's okay.
23:45I've got a lovely person with me.
23:47You do?
23:47You brought a guest?
23:49Yes.
23:49A guest of honour?
23:50Yes.
23:51May I ask for a song from you?
23:54We are both.
23:55Oh, I am Australian?
23:57Yes.
23:59I came from the dream time.
24:04From the dusty rest of the place.
24:07As Glad begins to play, you can literally see her musical memories spring to life.
24:15But what's really going on here?
24:18Can you talk me through your understanding of what the connection is between music and
24:24memory?
24:25We know that when we're listening to music and when we're singing or playing an instrument,
24:30that our whole brain is lighting up.
24:32We also know that the hippocampus, which is kind of the memory processing centre if you
24:36like, is really close to the amygdala in the brain.
24:40And amygdala is responsible for emotions.
24:42So when we're listening to music that might be connected to a really important part of
24:46our life, like a wedding or a funeral, a song that reminds us of someone special.
24:55That's really being coded through that music as well.
24:57That emotional content is in there.
24:59And music's very emotional.
25:01We are Australian.
25:06That was beautiful.
25:07What an emotional song.
25:10And sitting with Glad, I can see it too.
25:14Through music, distant memories come alive.
25:18When I was little, I lived on a farm and it was a lovely childhood really.
25:26I can remember my sister was a good musician.
25:31She used to play at church.
25:34That's right.
25:36And then when she wasn't around, I'd muck around on the piano.
25:43That's when it started.
25:47Holding onto memory has always mattered to Glad.
25:52She began as a nurse, but her true calling was capturing stories.
25:56In 1991, Mary Lowe, with the help of former Land Army women published a story.
26:01She spent years recording the voices of everyday Australians.
26:06Documenting memories so that they wouldn't be lost in time.
26:09That day, we were working out on the flax at Riddle's Creek.
26:14We had a little song about it.
26:17Relax when it's spreading flax over the hills of Riddle.
26:21After dedicating herself to documenting the memories of others, now music is helping preserve Glad's story.
26:36This is so funny because I was a bit in a dream yesterday, wasn't I?
26:44You were.
26:44And for daughter Helen and best friend Cheryl...
26:48Who am I?
26:52You're my very best friend Cheryl.
26:54Oh my God.
26:56These fleeting moments are precious.
26:59I'm glad that you remembered me like that.
27:02And this lady just over offering me a cup of tea or coffee has ended up our friendship today.
27:09That's beautiful.
27:11I love it.
27:13You're like my daughter.
27:14She wants to officially adopt me.
27:22After spending time with Glad and the other incredible artists I've met on this journey,
27:27it's clear that art can help us hold onto the memories that truly matter.
27:33Whether it's the places we've lived, the wrongs we tried to right, or the friends we met along the way,
27:40our stories are what we leave behind.
27:43After talking with a number of people, it became clear that there were many women who played vital roles during
27:49the war.
27:50And the women we're going to hear from are Kit Brown, Mary White, Mary Lowe, Elaine Peters and Vi Malcolm.
27:55In spare time we either played tennis or went to the pictures or whatever.
28:00But before I head home, there's some new memories I want to make.
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