SONGLINES OF THE HERE + NOW
Songlines; Aboriginal maps passed on through song, story or dance.
When sung these songs describe landmarks lining the route of a journey, they guide travellers across vast distances of the Australian landscape. In doing so, these travellers keep the sacred land alive. Houghton journeyed across the outback, exploring the deep-rooted connection Australians hold to the land they call home. Covering a total of 10,500 km she collected scattered stories and imprinted memories strewn across the Australian landscape. Gaining a deeper understanding of the Country’s past and of The First Nations Peoples sacred connection to their land.
Giving no weight to any one person physical representations of individuals encountered are removed, stories shared are represented through the landscape in which they were created. Houghton takes into account two conflicting devotions to the land; that of The First Nations People and the contemporary commercialisation of space through land tourism. It is the shared respect of the land, the connections of past and present, a parallel that Houghton aims to highlight within this work. Songlines of the Here+Now pays homage to The First Nations Peoples, a record of a journey, a collection of stories and natural interventions that explore human experience through listening to the language of the Australian landscape.
