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As part of the cinema program ‘Colour Box: Abstract Cinema’, four short films by Indigenous Australian artist Kent Morris will screen on loop in the QAG Lecture Theatre on Sundays from 10.30am to 4.00pm until 4 February 2024.

By reconstructing the built environment through a First Nations lens, Morris reveals the continuing presence and patterns of Aboriginal history, culture and knowledge in the contemporary Australian landscape, despite ongoing colonial interventions in the physical and political environments.

Karta-kartaka (Pink Cockatoo) 2023

Recently added to the national threatened species list, the karta-kartaka (pink cockatoo) is subject to ongoing threats to their existence including the loss of existing and future hollow-bearing trees for nesting, and a lack of feeding areas and regeneration due to heavy grazing by invasive species on Country.

Constructed from photographic images taken at Mutawintji, the immersive, kaleidoscopic patterns in Karta-kartaka (Pink Cockatoo) speak of infinity through a First Nations’ lens that views plants, humans, animals, land, sea and sky as interconnected and interdependent throughout time. Inspired by First Nations cultural knowledge systems, the patterns represent moments of transformation, of deep time cultural forms reinforcing ancestry, sovereignty and wisdom, all of which reflect a silent ancestral system of sustainability and strength.

3 minutes | All Ages

Waa and Wattle 2022

The mesmeric visual forms in Barkindji artist Kent Morris’s Waa and Wattle gradually reveal the continuing presence and patterns of Aboriginal history, culture and knowledge in the contemporary Australian landscape, through trans-narrative, geometric patternation.

By visually deconstructing and reassembling western systems, the work mirrors the methodical disassembly and denial of First Peoples cultural knowledge, highlighting the resilient and continually evolving deep-time knowledge of First Nations.

3 minutes | All Ages

Cultural Reflections – Continuous Connections 2022

Constructed from images that merge and cycle infinitely, Cultural Reflections - Continuous Connections symbolically reflects the continuity of knowledge and culture and the intertwining of stories and history over time.

By visually reshaping the built environment and nature into new forms that reflect Indigenous knowledge systems, Cultural Reflections - Continuous Connections reflects the tenacity of First Peoples cultural continuity since time immemorial.

3 minutes | All Ages

Barkindji Blue Sky - Ancestral Connections #10 2021

In this infinite cycle of geometric forms, Barkindji Blue Sky - Ancestral Connections #10 uses fractured images of group of kiingki, or white corellas, and evolving symmetrical lines that reference markings carved on the front of shields or ceremonial markings made on the body and on trees to symbolically reflects the transferral, maintenance or reconstruction of First Nations culture throughout the generations.

3 minutes | All Ages