Screenshot from Collisions courtesy of ACMI, Melbourne.
For the first time ever, virtual reality technology is being used to tell an Aboriginal story. As part of the Melbourne Festival, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is presenting Collisions—a VR experience exploring the homeland of Western Australia’s Martu people in dazzling detail, and re-visiting its startling first encounter with Western technology.Collisions is the first VR work by immersive film maker Lynette Wallworth, who has previously won acclaim for her interactive video installations. The film allows its headset-bound users to stand in the desert and live the experiences of Martu elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan.
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As a member of the Martu, who lived in relative isolation prior to the 1960s, Morgan’s terrifying first contact with Western culture came when he witnessed an atomic test taking place in his desert homeland. The elder’s introduction to the devastating technology changed his worldview forever.
Nyarri Nyarri Morgan in the Western Desert
Filmed on location in Western Australia using ambitious 360 degree filming techniques that often involved the crew driving enormous distances in order to avoid being caught within the frame, Collisions combines live action and animation. It is narrated by both Wallworth and Morgan’s grandson Curtis Taylor—Wallworth developed her voiceover narration with Joe Bini, editor and long-time collaborator of documentary maker Werner Herzog.
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