Badu Gili: Healing Spirit will light the eastern Bennelong sails from 13 December 2024 and will run through 2025 until December.
Screenings from sunset, 9pm, 9.30pm, 10pm and 10.30pm unless otherwise advised.
Please note there will be no screenings on 25 & 26 Jan.
Best viewed on the Podium, located at the top of the Monumental Steps. Viewing location map here.
Badu Gili: Healing Spirit (2024)
A dynamic projection displaying the works of celebrated First Nations artists, the late Bidjigal elder Esme Timbery and two of her children, Marilyn Russell and Steven Russell, and artist Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami of the Yanomami people. Badu Gili: Healing Spirit will appear on the Opera House’s Eastern Bennelong sails five times a night from sunset.
The project marks the second year of a creative partnership between the Sydney Opera House, Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. The powerful projection of First Nations storytelling has been animated by Vandal with a soundscape by James Henry, bringing together Indigenous artists from Bidjigal (Australia) and Yanomami (the Amazon’s largest Indigenous group) for the first time on Australia’s most iconic canvas.
Inspired by shellwork crafted by Esme Timbery and Marilyn Russell, prints and weavings by Steven Russell, and Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami’s drawings of the spirits and landscapes of the remote Yanomami forest, the new six-minute digital animation explores rituals and the bonds of cultural and familial connection forged through art and storytelling.
As a tribute to the life and work of their mother, the chapter created by Marilyn Russell and Steven Russell is set against the backdrop of the ocean and within the universe of Esme’s art. Featuring delicate shellwork and prints representing the enduring passage of artistic practice across generations, the projection explores the deep spiritual connection between a mother, her family and their Country.
Transitioning to the forests and rivers of the Yanomami, Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami’s chapter depicts a shamanic curing ceremony, a ritual performed when community members fall ill. Illuminating the relationship between the metaphysical and natural worlds, good spirits are called upon to ward off bad. Offering a glimpse into Yanomami cosmology, Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami brings the Amazon alive with butterflies, jaguars and the songs of his people.
“As a family we are so proud and grateful for this opportunity to shine a spotlight on mum, known as Aunty Esme to the broader community. She taught us the beauty of our heritage and shared with us her incredible talent for shellwork. For us, Badu Gili represents the pinnacle of her artistic career and honours her strength, creativity, and the way she continues to inspire us every day. This project brings her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren pride and joy in our culture. We love mum deeply, and we are forever blessed to walk in her footsteps.” – Marilyn and Steven Russell
“I’m happy to be a part of Badu Gili, and excited to be coming to Australia to share my drawings and the stories of the Yanomami people. As Indigenous people we will look each other in the face, get to know one another and share this special work with the community.” – Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami
Meet the artists
Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami
Joseca Mokahesi Yanomami was born in 1971 in the Brazilian Amazon. Son of a shaman, Joseca shares the ancestral knowledge and cosmology of the Yanomami through his drawings – embodying the ancient times and multiple dimensions of the Yanomani land and forest. Shamanic rituals, which communicate between humans and the “xapiri” (spirits), are central themes in his work.
Photograph: Lewis Mirrett.
Esme Timbery
Bidjigal elder and senior artist Esme Timbery is recognised for her decorative shelled models and objects that range from depictions of Sydney attractions to small slippers, frames and boxes. Continuing the shellwork tradition associated with the Aboriginal community of the south-eastern Sydney suburb of La Perouse, Timbery’s works embody an enduring connection to Country, linking a long-established craft to the changing geography and cultural reality of contemporary Sydney.
Photograph: Jacquie Manning.
Marilyn Russell
Continuing an artistic and family tradition Marilyn Russell’s shellworks are a testament to the legacy of her mother, Esme Timbery, as well as that of the Bidjigal people. Living and working in La Perouse Marilyn learnt shellwork from her mother Esme, who learnt from her mother Queen Emma Timbery before that. Marilyn’s work, which is both a connection to the past as well as a process of healing, is held in multiple gallery collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
Photograph: Daniel Boud.
Steven Russell
Steven Russell, a Bidjigal, Dharawal and Wadi Wadi drawer, painter and weaver, was born at La Perouse Mission on the shores of Kamay (Botany Bay), Sydney. The son of Bidjigal elder and senior artist Esme Timbery, Steven’s work is deeply connected to Country and is held in multiple gallery collections including the Wollongong Art Gallery. Along with his wife Phyllis Stewart, and their daughter Kristine, Steven is a founding member of the Jungah Weavers, a Master Weaver collective based out of Gerringong, NSW.
Photograph: Daniel Boud.