Light projecting installation to tell Australian history in Hanoi

For the first time, audiences in Hanoi will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in an impressive space with magical lights in a three-dimensional spatial arrangement called Walking Through a Songline.

The poster of the light-projecting installation titled Walking Through a Songline

After being well received in Ho Chi Minh City, this immersive light projection installation, hosted by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, will be open to the public at the Vietnam Women's Museum in Hanoi until May 21.

According to Andrew Goledzinowski, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, this is the latest exhibition hosted by the Australian Embassy to introduce Vietnamese audiences to Australia's unique and vibrant First Nations cultures. The exhibition is part of the program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam in 2023.

"One of the roles of the Australian Government is to tell Australia's story to the world. This includes the knowledge and stories of Australia's First People. By bringing Walking Through a Songline here, we are sharing these stories with our friends in Vietnam," he said.

"This digital exhibition immerses you in another space, back 65,000 years ago in Australia. But it is only a sample of the unique and complex culture of the Australian Aborigines. We opened this exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City for about a month. And the fact that the Vietnamese people love the exhibition makes me very happy," he told The Hanoi Times.

The ribbon cutting ceremony of the exhibition in the Vietnamese Women’s Museum on April 27. Photo: JD

The Australian Embassy currently carries out many activities to support ethnic minorities in Vietnam. "By supporting ethnic minorities in Vietnam in terms of tourism, we not only help them to preserve their cultural values but also provide international friends with a better understanding of Vietnam's rich culture," he added.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet, director of the Vietnam Women's Museum, which is co-hosting the exhibition in Hanoi, said at the exhibition's opening ceremony on April 17 that "Walking Through a Songline" offers an in-depth exploration of Australia's cultural and historical stories through a unique digital display.

"This will be a great gift to the public in the capital," she said.

The Australian Government is committed to promoting First Nations peoples and cultures in Australia and overseas. Walking Through a Songline is a touring version of the National Museum of Australia's (NMA) internationally acclaimed exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, which brings the culture and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to a global audience.

Andrew Goledzinowski, Australia Ambassador to Vietnam, delivered a speech at the event. Photo: JD

This exhibition follows the trail of the Seven Sisters Dreaming across Australia's western and central deserts while being hunted by a male pursuer. This ancestral journey creates songlines, which can be understood as pathways of knowledge about Indigenous cultural values and how to sustainably survive on this continent, as Australia's First Nations people have done for millennia. The stories contained in these songlines form the foundational history of Australia as told by artists, custodians, and traditional owners.

The exhibition is open daily from 8 am to 5 pm from April 28 to May 21 at the Vietnamese Women's Museum, No. 36 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.

An explanatory video on the exhibition Walking Through a Songline with Margo Neale, Senior Indigenous Curator and Head of Indigenous Knowledge at the National Museum, is also available at www.facebook.com/AustralianEmbassyVietnam.