Namatjira and Ngapartji Ngapartji go right to the heart of the intersection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous experience. These stories of family, friendship, land, myth, life and death are contextualised within the social and political framework of their times. They resonate universally, yet at the same time capture unique moments in Australian history and experience.
Namatjira tells the moving story of Albert Namatjira (1902–1959). Namatjira was Australia's most famous Indigenous watercolour artist and the first to achieve commercial success, but his story is hardly known. Albert Namatjira's story resonates today as strongly as it did 50 years ago, providing a lens through which we can see the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians both in the past and the present.
Taking its name from the Pitjantjatjara concept of exchange and reciprocity, Ngapartji Ngapartji—co-created with Trevor Jamieson—is a deeply affecting experience of Indigenous history. Exploring themes of dispossession and displacement from country, home and family, the play tells the story of a Pitjantjatjara family forcibly moved off their lands to make way for the testing of British atomic bombs at Maralinga.
DR SCOTT RANKIN is an author, playwright, director, and cultural commentator. Scott has written, co-written, and/or directed 26 theatre works and other arts projects which have been included in major arts festivals including Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Edinburgh, staged by Belvoir St Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company and performed in dry riverbeds on Pitjantjatjara country, in isolated Tasmanian shack communities, Ngarluma country in the Pilbara, on boats, in sheds, hotels and warehouses. His works have toured to Sweden, Iceland, Malta, Dublin, Scotland, London, South Africa, New Zealand and Germany. His highly acclaimed projects are featured in documentaries, screened in film festivals, included on the HSC list, taught in university. These include Box The Pony co-written with Leah Purcell, Riverland for Wesley Enoch, Ngapartji Ngapartji for Trevor Jamieson, Hipbone Sticking Out for the community of Roebourne, Tjaabi for Patrick Churnside and Namatjira for the Namatjira Family. Scott gained his PhD from QUT in 2022 for his thesis “Big hART’s 30 years of practice: Cultural Justice and the Right to Thrive,” for which he won an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award and delivered the valedictory address. Scott was awarded the 2018 Tasmanian Australian of the Year. As CEO and Creative Director of Big hART for three decades, he has watched this work garner more than 45 national and international awards, including 9 National Institute of Criminology Violence Prevention Awards, a World Health Organization award for Safe Communities, the 2017 Telstra Business and charity of the year Award, a Helpmann, and a Myer Performing Arts Group Award. Scott lives and works on Tommeginne Country in NW Tasmania.
| Cast Info | 2F, 5M |
| Genres | Drama |
| Themes | Political/Social themes, First Nations |
| Audiences | Adult, Secondary: Years 10-12 |
| Extent | 112 |
| Edition | First |
| Size | 210 x 137 |
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