The Riḡorabana, The Balawaia

25.4.25 - 24.5.25
Opening | Live performance: 25 April
Outer Space Gallery


A boulder floats deep within a cave.

A trick of nature.

A murky basin glimmers.
Slowly evaporating,
the water thins,
leaving behind a cracked bed of clay.

The sea drains and hardens into a mountain.

Rust blooms on a wall.
Salt-carved,
sweating,
weeping brine onto the floor.
A painting that never settles.

Fossilising the weather.

A draped fishing net,
encrusted in salt hangs like a veil in a window.

Preserving culture,
slipping through the loops of a net.

The village echoes through the mountains,
down to the valley,
and passes over the shore.

Water trickles.
Wind whistles.
Cicadas sing.

Ancestors whisper through the cave walls.
The earth speaks.
Nature murmurs.

Dressed in bilas,
with brambles lashed to his back,
with powdered earth in hand.
A masked figure steps into the cloudy water,
beneath the hovering stone.
Tracing the contours of the rock,
playing it like a musical instrument.

Rocks are stirring.

Fingernails scrape a weathered terrain,
lodging salt and rust beneath them.

Deep tremors rise.

A distant howl.
A spell, repeated.
A chant, layered—
to banish,
to bless,
to cleanse.

Three voices coming from one body.

Ritual pit.


‬The Riḡorabana, The Balawaia is an immersive exhibition that explores Melanesian heritage, environmental processes, and the transmission of Indigenous knowledge through the lens of both ancestral and diasporic experiences. Weaving together familial storytelling, fieldwork, and cultural practices from Papua Niugini, the project interprets local mythologies surrounding the caves and boulders deep within the sacred mountain of Lamana Golo, where sorcerers are initiated. Centred on these sacred sites, where Ansell’s ancestors evolved, the project also connects local beliefs to natural weathering processes that mirror cultural transformation over time. Through soundscape and embodied performance, the story of the Riḡorabana and the Balawaia is told.

In a recent visit to his ancestral homelands, Ansell observed the profound relationship between land, culture, and community. The exhibition examines material change as a metaphor for learning, where knowledge is gained through interaction with the land. Just as clay cracks, metals rust, and salt crystals form—signs of adaptation and continuity—so too does wisdom pass down through generations. Nature, in this way, is not merely a resource, but a partner in life, shaping and preserving indigenous wisdom. By weaving together natural weathering processes with traditional knowledge, the exhibition suggests that indigenous wisdom is etched into the land itself, reinforcing the idea that stories and the environment are intrinsically intertwined.

Artefacts of Pacifika labour found in Papua Niugini have been reimagined as sculptures and playable instruments. Spanning soundscape and embodied performance, this constructed natural environment will be the grounds for a story of the Riḡorabana and the Balawaia to be told.

Ansell has consulted with members of [his] family and Elders in the Balawaia community about this project and they have advised [him] that the cultural practices and ceremonies that have been documented and will be displayed are permitted and can be experienced by all.


Installation: Cassin Demnar, Jordan Azcune, Connor Andree-Evarts
Audio technician: Connor Andree-Evarts
Special thanks: Georgia Hayward, Sara Scubek, Rodney Ansell (Dad), Josiah Roberts, Dr Charles Robb, Alexandra Sloane, Phaedra van Wersch, Outer Space Volunteers, Judith Wright Arts Centre Workers


The Rigorabana, The Balawaia Soundscape ︎︎︎
The Rigorabana, The Balawaia Performance Sound Clips ︎︎︎