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Dreaming Stories, the Australian Indigenous Cultural Festival, took place in Jakarta from 22 – 26 January 2009. Launched by Indonesian film-maker and Australian alumni Mira Lesmana and Australian Embassy Charge d’Affaires Louise Hand, the festival was a celebration of Indigenous Australian culture, and featured award-winning Indigenous Australian films and an exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art from the Balgo Hills region of Western Australia, titled BALGO.

BALGO presents a range of stories and ceremonies of the mythic Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) that Balgo artists paint. Two Balgo artists, Joan Nagomara and Imelda Gugaman, the Director of Warlayirti Artists Art Centre, Sally Clifford, and Head of Aboriginal Studies at Curtin University, Professor Anita Lee Hong, accompanied the exhibition on its first international staging in Jakarta.

Australian Embassy Charge d’Affaires Louise Hand and Mira Lesmana at the launch of the festival.

Artist Imelda Gugaman admiring works by Eubena Nampitjin (Kinyu, 2005 left) and Lucy Loomoo (Nyaru, 2001 right).

Still from Ten Canoes. ROLF DE HEER Writer/Director/Producer