John Harvey and Walter Waia are Torres Strait Islander artists from Saibai Island whose collaboration weaves together contemporary practice and cultural knowledge grounded in Saibai Island world view. Working across mediums including film, theatre, installation, choreography, and music, their work explores memory, belonging, and home against a backdrop of rising sea levels and diasporic identity. Their acclaimed short film, Katele (Mudskipper) (2022), exemplifies their voice: lyrical; grounded, and resonant in deep cultural authority. They create contemporary mythologies that are inseparable from culture, language, island homeland, and community – art that embodies a living continuum of ancestral knowledge. At the Biennale of Sydney, their work will stand as both testimony and invitation.

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain with generous support from the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, Annamilla Foundation, and generous assistance from the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.