A new exhibition is set to open at the State Library of WA next week, with Indigenous elders lending their voices to an oral history of Albany’s natural landscape in honour of the city’s bicentenary.
Kinjarling Djinnang Ngalak, or Country Sees Us, aims to mark 200 years of Albany’s colonisation by offering a new look at Albany’s landscape both pre and post-colonisation.
Menang elders Vernice Gillies, Lester Coyne, Carol Pettersen, Mark Colbung, Doreen Hancox and Sharrlyn Maddren, as well as young ranger and Menang man Cleve Humphries, have all lent their voices to the project.
Each person contributed a piece of oral history about their home land of Albany and its surrounding landscape and history, which visitors will be able to watch on a video inside the exhibition.
All the oral histories gathered for the exhibition will be kept in the State Library collections for future generations to watch and learn from.
When they first arrive to the exhibition, visitors will be encouraged to step inside a specially-made dome structure inspired by a “kornt”, or traditional Noongar bush shelter, designed to invite a moment of stillness and reflection as visitors pause and listen to the voices of the elders as they share their stories.
Inside, visitors will also be greeted by six large-scale lenticular prints of the Albany landscape, that have been digitally reworked using AI to shift and reveal change to a particular piece of the landscape over time.
The exhibition also includes a newly commissioned animation by media artist Steven Alyian that incorporates maps, photographs and illustrations alongside Menang artist and academic Shandell Cummings’ artworks.
The digital aspects of the exhibition are displayed alongside pieces of the State Library’s 137-year-old collections including historical maps, photography and illustrations of Albany throughout its history.
The exhibition has been curated by Menang woman Denien Toomath, who is also senior partnerships officer at the State Library.
“Kinjarling Djinnang Ngalak invites audiences to encounter Kinjarling as a living, speaking country, one that holds memory, story and responsibility,” Toomah said of the new exhibition.
“It is about giving Kinjarling’s extraordinary and enduring landscape its own voice, and allowing the coastline, rocks, water and sky to be heard on their own terms.
“As a Menang Noongar woman, my connection to Kinjarling is deeply personal.
“This exhibition reflects the continuity of our stories across generations and affirms our right to tell our stories in our own voices.”
State Library chief executive Catherine Clark said she hoped the exhibition offered a new perspective on Albany.
“With this exhibition, we wanted to open a portal to Albany,” she said.
“From the moment visitors step inside, they are surrounded by the landscape and gain a strong sense of Kinjarling as a powerful and ongoing presence.
“The project also responds directly to gaps in State Library collections by commissioning and platforming Menang-led storytelling.
“Working alongside Menang elders and contributors reflects our commitment to listening, learning and expanding the State’s cultural and social record together.”
Kinjarling Djinnang Ngalak is free to attend and will open on May 18 and go until early 2027.
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