Brisbane Festival Review: River of Light and Evening Lights

Two very similar Brisbane Festival shows stand out for very different reasons: One is the show everyone WILL see, but the other is the one everyone SHOULD see.

River of Light, Treasury Arcadia, 6.15pm, 8pm and 9pm except Mondays until September 28, free 4/5

Evening Lights Installation - Along the pavement on King Street until September 28, 5pm-10pm, free 4/5

BRISBANE FESTIVAL ADVISER

BRISBANE Festival is jam-packed with shows that come with big-budgets or even bigger reputations.

But it means smaller, less-well known shows get overlooked.

Compare for example River of Light and Evening Lights.

River of Light is a visually spectacular water and light show that screens three times a night (except Mondays) throughout the festival.

WATER PLAY: River of Light on the Brisbane river. Picture: AAP image, John Gass.

Yuggera and Toorbal man Shannon Ruska narrates the story of the arrival of Europeans and the response of the First Nations people to these “pale and starving visitors” - or at least as much of the story as you can in 10 minutes.

For audiences at Treasury Arcadia stopping between shows or watching while they grab a bite to eat, it’s probably as much history as is palatable - and even if you don’t pay too much attention to the story, just seeing the projections of images onto a canvas of water is pretty amazing.

SHINING LIGHT: See Elisa Jane Carmichael's light installation on King St as part of Brisbane Festival.

In contrast Evening Lights, takes place away from the Festival hub in Bowen Hills - and is far simpler.

It is a series of light installations based on artwork by Ngugi woman Elisa Jane Carmichael, inspired by the poetry of Aboriginal writer Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

In her artwork Carmichael explores dusk and the element of fire as well as her own cultural identity and heritage.

“I thought about how beautiful that time of day is when the sun is setting and the pastel sky; and sunset being a from of fire and the processes of day turning into night and what that process would have been for aboriginal people preparing for evening,” she said.

On the night I was there Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s great granddaughter Elizabeth Engelbrecht and fellow poet Sachem Parkin-Owens read out their response to the artwork.

It was a moving - and far more insightful - experience than River of Light.

This is not to say one if better than the other.

Both have a place in the program - it’s just a pity that while thousands will see the River of Light fewer will take the time to see Evening Lights (there were just two dozen or so there the night I went).

Perhaps even sadder was on that night, the “tour” had stopped outside one restaurant to admire the artwork on the footpath and listen to the poetry when the impatient restaurant owner/manager inquired how long we would be.

It seems even if you are part of Brisbane Festival, indigenous people are still be asking to “move along.”