From the Dhungala to the Birrarung: Water is Life

The city’s best-known landmarks become living waterways in two dynamic projections lighting up the city. Growing up, Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta artist ENOKi was told to “move like water”. It’s an ethos they continue to carry with them as they ride shifting tides of identity, gender, and sexuality. In this landmark commission for Now or Never, the multi-media creator transforms Melbourne Town Hall and Flinders Street Station into mesmerising canvases with large-scale projections honouring the waterways that have sustained First Peoples for millennia. Aquatic and semi-aquatic species from the Dhungala (Murray River) and the Birrarung (Yarra River) drift across the facades, bringing into view the life now hidden beneath polluted, murky waters. The work acknowledges the enduring cultural significance of these rivers as places of fishing, travel, trade and storytelling. It’s a moving reminder that water has sustained life and culture here for over 60,000 years.