THE critically-acclaimed dystopian sci-fi drama Cleverman will come to life this weekend through a world premiere exhibition at the Riddoch and Main Corner Complex.
Curated by the Australian Centre for Moving Image, the exhibition will open on Sunday and includes props, costumes and make-up from the series, designs by Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop and artwork from the original comic book series.
Cleverman stormed onto ABC TV in 2016 and explores a series of Aboriginal origin stories in a contemporary context, with political nuance touching on themes of class, racism and power.
Exploring First Nations storytelling, language and creativity in production design, costumes and props, this free exhibition provides audiences with an opportunity to listen-first and be immersed in a powerful expression of origin stories.
Visitors are welcomed into the Bindawu Spirit listening space to hear the key Dreaming stories which underpin Cleverman.
The Riddoch and Main Corner coordinator Talie Teakle described the display as visually stunning with broad appeal, from sci-fi and comic lovers to historians, writers and fans of television.
“It is also a very digital exhibition with various forms of media being used, which is a strong direction we are keen to continue exploring with our exhibitions at the Riddoch,” she said.
Australian Centre for Moving Image director and chief executive Katrina Sedgwick said the exhibition was an opportunity to view origin stories with a sci-fi setting laced with political themes which ring true today.
“Over the past decade, the Australian Centre for Moving Image has been curating and touring exhibitions across Australia that celebrate extraordinary Australian screen practice and practitioners,” she said.
“We jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with series creator Ryan Griffen to create an exhibition that takes people behind-the-scenes to explore the storytelling and superb screen craft that delivered this remarkable Indigenous Australian TV series.”
The exhibition will officially launch as part of the Mount Gambier Fringe Festival on March 20 at 6pm and will be on display in Kings Floor from Sunday until May 5.
