Cirrus@Austlit

'Join four mainland-born Torres Strait Islander women as they battle against the rising tide threatening their home, culture and identity. GURR ERA OP (“the face of the sea” in Meriam Mir) is a celebratory sharing of culture and a call to action in the face of climate devastation, interweaving hybrid Torres Strait Islander contemporary storytelling, movement and spoken word.

'What would you do if you could never go home? Is your culture bound by place or by self? What happens to your identity when the physical place that holds your ancestral foundations disappears?

'These are some of the questions the storytellers grapple with daily as they watch their motherland, family and communities suffer the onslaught of climate change. The Torres Strait Islands are currently on the front lines – but ultimately, your home is next.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ghenoa Gela – little sister, daughter, granddaughter, comic, teacher, rebel, gold-medallist, air-guitarist, charmer, TV star, Torres Strait mainlander, walking political statement. And now she’s made a show, told through movement and words. She’s drawing on the traditional and the everyday, the political and the personal, to tell a story that’s irreverent, provocative and moving.

'A revealing reflection on, and celebration of, cultural inheritance, and an unflinching portrayal of what it’s like to walk a tightrope of politics and family every day.' (Production summary)

'Fragments of Malungoka – Women of the Sea explores what Ghenoa’s female ancestry means to her as a mainland-born Torres Strait Islander woman. By sharing her culture with an ensemble of non-Torres Strait women, Ghenoa integrates traditional influences with contemporary movement and technology. ...' (Source: National Indigenous Times, 10 May 2016 on-line)

'Stories of the Creation Era tell of how the Torres Strait Islands were created and how their myths and legends began. Bringing to life the stories of her family and her ancestors, Ghenoa Gela tells the tale of the Winds of Woerr. The four winds of the Torres Strait – Kuki, Sager, Naigai and Ziai – marked for her people the passage of time and the coming and going of the seasons.' (Source: Next Wave website)