GABAN FILM

GABAN at Yoyi! Care, Repair, Heal

3 screen video installation
and live performance

Kameron Locke originated the role of PHOTO in Brook Andrew's post-traumatic theatrical work, GABAN. Written and directed by Brook Andrew, GABAN is a post-traumatic play that summons a number of interlinked stories concerning the mess of the colonial fall-out. Gaban is a Wiradjuri word that means 'strange' and it describes the disconcerting experience that is the museum for many First Nations and Indigenous peoples. The protagonists of GABAN are personifications of Powerful Objects – cultural objects retained in colonial collections – in dialogue with other characters who personify the institutional power of the museum. There are actions of amnesia, violence, repatriation and revenge in this story of re-awakening ancestral memories.

Kameron melded singing, vocalizations, performance, and theater to embody his character and represent PHOTO's arch. GABAN was featured in Gropius Bau's YOYI! Care, Repair, Heal exhibition from September 2022 to January 2023. The live performance was presented for the exhibition opening on 17 September 2022.

Shot in historically-loaded locations in Berlin including the Humboldt Forum and the Clärchens Ballhaus, this edition of GABAN is a video installation and was made in collaboration with an international collective of creatives, who all share a commitment to empowering the voices of Queer, Trans, Black, and Indigenous People of Colour.