Four Worlds – A Country Arts SA produced mini-series to hit the small screen

In Four Worlds, we hear from four artists who share their stories of working or living in regional South Australia.

Produced by Country Arts SA, the mini docuseries takes us into the lives of visual artists James Dodd, Aboriginal Choreographer Taree Sansbury, Actor Sarah Brokensha and Aboriginal Photographer Lavene Ngatokorua as they tell us about what impact place has in their art-making and shaping their lives to be the artists they are today.

In a Country Arts SA first, the series, filmed by South Australian production company KOJO, will be screened on SBS free to air TV November 12, 3pm to a nationwide audience.

Sarah Brokensha left the big smoke to come back home to Mount Gambier where she thought her acting life would disappear, but instead it flourished. Jimmy Dodd is an artist who doesn’t like galleries. Taree Sansbury’s bloodlines connect to Kaurna, Narungga and Ngarrindjeri nations and her dance connects her to new audiences; and Lavene Ngatokorua continues the oldest continued living culture through a modern medium – photography.

Country Arts SA Chief Executive/Executive Producer Anthony Peluso said the series was a way to share with the rest of the nation what regional SA has to offer.

“We have always known that regional and remote South Australia is home to many talented artists, and now we are thrilled to be able to share some of these stories with a nationwide audience. Each of these artists brings their own perspective to their region and in turn we see how their surroundings have influenced their art.”

Lavene Ngatokorua said modernising the way stories are passed through generations is important to keep adapting so culture is passed through to future generations.

“One of the things we as Aboriginal people have been able to do is adapt to the new things that are coming our way. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be the oldest continued living culture in the world. What doesn’t change is the stories that we tell; the stories remain the same. The way we interpret those stories can change. That’s where we adapt. Where I see it, I have gone from where they talk about rock to canvas to now photography. That’s the journey.

“Country is everything. My father said we don’t have a once-upon-a-time book, our book is the land that is out there. It is our stories; that’s how I want to tell it. I want to look at the landscape using the medium of photography to continue the oldest living continued culture in the world in a different way. Modernise it.”

Four Worlds will screen on SBS TV, Nov 12, 3pm.