WAARI is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores the deep interconnections between land, language, and body. Guided by strong cultural ties, he is a proud descendant of the Waanyi and Kalkutungu peoples of so-called Australia, and the Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Manu, and Te Ātiawa iwi of Taranaki, Aotearoa (so-called New Zealand). WAARI’s work weaves together these ancestral bloodlines, grounded in the lived experience of being Blak in places shaped by ongoing colonial presence. Drawing from both Indigenous worlds, his practice is a space for exploring identity, resistance, and cultural continuance. He has created across many lands including Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country (Naarm), Gimuy Walubara Yidi (Cairns), Kalkutungu Country (Cloncurry, Mount Isa), and Arrernte Country (Alice Springs).
MUKI, now available across all platforms, is WAARI’s debut EP, an exploration of Blak life, land and futurity. Following the cycles of life-birth, coming of age, death and rebirth-as they connect to cycles of family across generations and land across seasons.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 | TESSELLATE-TOPIA, ABBOTSFORD CONVENT (NAARM)
MARCH 17, 2023 | NGV FRIDAY NIGHTS (NAARM)
NOVEMBER 4, 2022 | MNDSGN & THE RARE PLEASURES SUPPORT, THE NIGHT CAT) (NAARM)