Tide of Returns inaugurates Ocean Space’s 2026 season with new works by the Repatriates Collective, composed of artists from Northern Australia’s Pacific region, Southern and Western Africa, Europe, and Latin America. The exhibition explores the role of water in processes of cultural repatriation, through immersive installations of sand, shells, video, and sound, and a textile–video landscape that weaves gestures of care and memory. It is a journey that reflects on cultural continuity and on the ties between communities, oceans, and new generations.
In the first nave, a large sandy dune hosts thousands of shell and fabric figures, activated by songs and narratives that evoke totems, clans, and songlines, transforming the former church into a living landscape. Indigenous dolls become messengers of ancestral stories, while the film and sound composition create a bridge between continents. In the east nave, Verena Melgarejo Weinandt’s work celebrates gestures of collective care: woven blue textiles and a three-channel video depict bodies and waters flowing together, where rivers become oceans and memory moves like a shared current.
Featured Image: “Dadikwakwa-kwa at Dingala”, Noeleen Danjibana Lalara, 2025
Ph. Britten Syd Andrews
