Yawa

N'arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM, Jarra Karalinar Steel, Narayana Johnson, Troy Innocent, Duncan Corrigan
four player arcade game

Yawa means journey in Boonwurrung language. Four players explore an abstract map of Country discovering words as they go.

Up to four players each become a possum spirit (walert marrup) as they explore a colourful world filled with Boonwurrung language. As the possum spirits move about the world they reveal words about place that are spoken by N’arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs and appear also on the game map. These words describe aspects of what once was in South Melbourne, a rich wetland filled with plants, flowers, animals in which places like Emerald Hill were gathering sites for the Yalukut Weelam of the Boonwurrung for thousands of years.

Yawa installed on the corner of Clarendon and Coventry St, South Melbourne in 2022. Photo credit: Kit Edwards Players finding a word within the landscape. Photo credit: Kit Edwards