WE TAKE BACK OUR MOTHER TONGUES Comes to Arts House in May

We Take Back Our Mother Tongues is the next creation by FAMILI, a multidisciplinary storytelling project where a team of Oceanic artists represent their complex experiences of culture and identity in diaspora.

FAMILI brings together 15 artists whose bloodlines hail from Pasifika and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, that weave together to create some of the most essential queer, transgender and Bla(c)k voices across Australia.

A spellbinding and powerful evening of music, movement and mental restoration, We Take Back Our Mother Tongues features a line-up of powerhouse live music acts, DJ sets, video projections and sculptural installations by Mossy 333.

Drawing on hip-hop, new wave R&B, Oceanic musicality and more, We Take Back Our Mother Tongues is driven by the powerful currents of queer and LGBTQIA+ experience. The electronic music stems from traditional percussive and melodic instruments like conch shells, log drums, bamboo shakers, split canes and flutes.

Mossy 333's installation blends the elemental themes of water, flora and flames, where sculptures transform between rocks, plants and coral - they represent the ideas of morphing bodies, duality and gender fluidity.

The live music line-up includes performances by Lay the Mystic, Iki Finau, KALALA, Kalyani Mumtaz, Porobibi, Meleika Gesa Fatafehi, Lonelyspeck, Daisy Catterall, Paul Gorrie and Geryon.

FAMILI Creative Director, Ripley Kavara, said "Music and singing is scared - it brings people together across most cultures."

"We Take Back Our Mother Tongues responds to our connection to culture and reflects who we are. We enable alternate voices to some of the challenging conversations we need to have to create change. We rely on the foundational practices of deep listening, oration and storytelling across our communities," said Kavara.

Arts House Artistic Director, Emily Sexton, is excited to finally work with FAMILI, "We were so impressed and inspired when we saw this amazing collective perform at Midsumma 2020, just before the pandemic hit."

"Ripley and the team have created a magnificent experience of self-determination through art, music and storytelling. We know it will have the same transformative impact on our audience as it did for us," said Sexton.

We Take Back Our Mother Tongues by FAMILI

6 - 7 May 2022

7.30pm Fri - Sat

Duration: 3 hours

Arts House - North Melbourne Town Hall

521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne

$20 general admission + booking fee

$10 BLAKTIX for First Nations + booking fee

artshouse.com.au or (03) 9322 3720