Shine On Gimuy: First Nations festival returns to Far North Queensland
First Nations artists will light up the Cairns Esplanade with a huge light display exploring Indigenous history and culture during the return of the Shine On Gimuy Festival.
First Nations artists will light up the Cairns Esplanade with a huge light display exploring Indigenous history and culture during the Shine On Gimuy Festival which returns to Cairns this week.
Running from October 16 to 26, the cultural festival is a celebration of First Nations storytelling through art, music and culture.
The festival’s key event is the Artstory light walk, a 170m art installation along the Cairns Esplanade featuring the work of five First Nations artists.
Showcase artist Judy Watson will have a 28m exhibit on the walk based on her book A Preponderance of Aboriginal Blood, which showcases the voting rights for Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through state archive documents.
“If you had a preponderance of Aboriginal blood, meaning Aboriginality through both sides of the family, you were not entitled to vote,” Ms Watson said,
“In these documents, I’ve chosen the ones which are relating to Aboriginal people, including exemption certificates, which my family and others had to worry about in order to work, in order to get married, in order to live and in order to vote.”
Ms Watson said the work functioned to “seduce” the viewer with its beauty and then “hit you with the content”.
“I’m hoping that people wandering through the installation will get a bit of an understanding about people around them, who they might have grown up with and what their families went through,” she said.
“All of these things I think are really important for us to take home and try and respect and recognise humanity in each person.”
The partnering Dream Aloud concert will take place on Saturday, October 1 at Munro Martin Parklands, featuring stellar line-up of First Nations artists including Budjerah, Kaiit, South Summit and local musician Samantha Clark who uses the stage name Kaweyova.
Ms Clark said the concert was so much more than just music.
“It’s such an honour to be a part of the concert because apart from the performance itself, it creates opportunities for people to get on this platform, express themselves and have a voice within the community,” she said.
“It’s about bringing people together, making new connections, and creating pathways for voices, especially in the local Indigenous community.
“You will get so much insight into the Indigenous aspect of life as people share their stories through their arts and their music – it will be a really good time”.
Other events include the Blak markets from October 16-19 offering a range of First Nations art, jewellery, clothing and more, and a Futures Summit on October 17 focused on music and events with keynote speaker Miss Kaninna.
Shine On Gimuy is completely free, but the Dream Aloud concert is ticketed.
For the full program head to the festival’s website.
Originally published as Shine On Gimuy: First Nations festival returns to Far North Queensland
