New Martine Perret exhibition opens at The Farm Margaret River as part of global Head On photo festival

A stunning showcase from one of the State’s most acclaimed photographers opens in Margaret River this weekend as part of an international festival.

Martine Perret’s Djanga-Spirit photography collection featuring Aboriginal elders will be on show at The Farm Margaret River on Caves Road as a satellite event in the Head On Photo Festival open program.

The French-born, former United Nations conflict photographer, has continued her collaboration with Wadandi matriarchs which saw them last year appear on the world stage together as part of UNESCO’s International Decade of Indigenous Languages celebration in Paris.

Protecting and showcasing Aboriginal culture and languages has become a passion for Perret, who showcased her previous collaboration Belong in 2022 as part of the grand opening of the WA Museum Boola Bardip in Perth.

Djanga-Spirit is Perret’s newest exhibition which includes digital projections intertwining portraits of elders with illuminated night landscapes created through long exposure techniques.

Perret told the Times she selected the latest images specifically to feature in the Head On satellite exhibition.

She said Djanga-Spirit emerged from “deep connections” with Wadandi elders of the Margaret River region who had “generously shared their narratives surrounding the concept of spirit, encapsulated in the word ‘djanga’”.

“For the Wadandi people, everything possesses a spirit — animals, plants and humans alike,” Perret said.

Brockman Webb said the Wadandi connection to nature and country represented a profound link with spiritual entities associated with the land.

“Your body is meat, fat and bones, but your consciousness is what makes you, you and comes from the earth you’re born on — that’s your djanga, your spirit,” she said.

This connection was expressed through care of country (boodja) and adherence to lore, transmitted through generations via the oral tradition of storytelling, she said.

Hutchins said the exhibition was an opportunity for people to get an insight into “the spirit of Indigenous culture, spirit of the land and spirit of themselves”.

Djanga-Spirit opens tomorrow at The Farm and runs until November 30 on Thursdays and Fridays from 11am to 4pm, and from 2pm to 6pm on weekends.

The exhibition would relocate to the Great Southern Museum in Albany from Saturday, December 14 until mid-2025 alongside other previous collaborations Perret has undertaken with the region’s elders.