ONE BILLION BEATS
One Billion Beats, Excerpt — Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2016
One Billion Beats is a theatre work that draws together Australian cinematic history with poetry and original score.
Conceived and performed by poet and filmmaker Romaine Moreton, One Billion Beats examines the historical representation of Aboriginal people in Australian cinema and its projection onto Moreton’s own lived experience and personal stories. First performed in 2016 at Campbelltown Arts Centre, One Billion Beats is a profoundly political and resonant work, an act of intellectual courage and personal candour that will privilege an Indigenous perspective on cultural representation in film and beyond. This performance is a story of insight, horror, relevance and beauty.
Written and Directed by Romaine Moreton & Alana Valentine
Music and Sound Design: Lou Bennett
Video Design: Sean Bacon
Set Design: Romaine Moreton & Sean Bacon
Lighting Design: Hugh Hamilton
Research: Romaine Moreton
Associate Producer: Vicki Gordon
Read Press - Sydney Morning Herald
Read Press - ABC News
Listen to Interview - ABC Radio National
Watch Interview - Campbelltown Arts Centre
Read Interrogating Western Media Art Forms in One Billion Beats (2016) - Monash University
Three people, two women and one man, are gathered, looking at a script or document in a dimly lit room, possibly a theater or studio.
Photo by Amanda James
Photo by Amanda James
Photo by Heidrun Lohr
FOUR WOMEN (I DO BELONG) DOUBLE
Presented at Lismore Regional Gallery and curated by Djon Mundine, Four Women (I Do Belong) Double was a powerful group exhibition inspired by Nina Simone’s 1966 song Four Women.
The exhibition brought together works by Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Romaine Moreton (in collaboration with Lou Bennett), Wart, Therese Ritchie (in collaboration with Jacky Green and Seán Kerins), Nasim Nasr, Teena McCarthy, and Carolyn Strachan (in collaboration with Alessandro Cvadeni). Through diverse artistic expressions — including painting, photography, moving image, and performance — the exhibition explored the resilience, creativity, and strength of Blak women and the complex perceptions surrounding them.
As part of the exhibition, Dr Romaine Moreton and Dr Lou Bennett presented a striking theatre work that combined poetry, moving image, and an original score. Inspired by Simone’s Four Women, their performance provided an Indigenous perspective on the treatment of Aboriginal women, delivering a deeply political, courageous, and resonant experience. Moreton and Bennett’s music video ‘Walingera Bulla Bulla’ was also commissioned as part of this exhibition.
Aerial view of red and orange rugged desert hills with sparse green vegetation and dirt paths.
Close-up image of cracked, dry dirt or soil in a desert or arid environment.
Large open-pit mining operation with terraced levels, trucks, and a winding dirt road.
Close-up of grass blades with dew droplets, backlit in warm sunlight, creating a soft bokeh background.
Close-up of green grass blades with dew drops, softly illuminated by sunlight creating a bokeh effect.
Sunlit ocean water with shimmering reflections and gentle ripples.