Mutiara

Marrugeku’s choreographic truth telling reflects on Broome’s harsh pearl shell industry and the bonds forged in its wake between Malay workers and First Peoples of the Kimberley. Taking a window from the 1870s when early free diving practices were entwined with the slavery of Indigenous peoples, the dangerous and brutal conditions of the industry continued through decades of exploitation of indentured Asian workers to the early 1970s, with the end of the hard hat diving era. Mutiara draws on diasporic connections to land and sea — celebrating resilience, love and the strength of ancestors through South East Asian martial arts, music, storytelling, and Yawuru and Minangkabau dance forms, highlighting the fluid power and resilience of the nomadic Malay. Bones speak, seas change, ancestral beings feud and deep beneath the surface the pearl diver yearns for home.