Martine Perret, Gungurrunga Ngawa, 2017. Image courtesy the artist.
On the occasion of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, the Australian Embassy in France is hosting the exhibition Ngala Wongga: Cultural Significance of Aboriginal Languages in the Goldfields of Western Australia from January 30, 2019.
Ngala Wongga is a collaboration between photographer Martine Perret and the Aboriginal community of the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. Combining landscape, portraiture and multimedia, Martine Perret’s work highlights the link between Aboriginal elders and the land, and highlights the cultural importance of Australia’s endangered languages.
About 120 Indigenous languages are still spoken in Australia. Nearly 110 of them are in grave or critical danger of extinction. But there is still hope: there is a significant increase in the use of some 30 endangered languages through language programs.
SOURCE: Australian Embassy France