Tide of Returns, an exhibition running from March 28 until October 11, 2026 at Ocean Space, TBA21- Academy, explores the role of art and water in shaping the processes of repatriation through the work of an artist collective, Indigenous communities, and filmmakers.
For the Tide of Returns exhibition at Ocean Space, key participants include Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, Verena Melgarejo Weinandt, Kasimir Burgess, Rebekah Wilson, Syd Britten Andrews, and a group of Anindilyakwa artists, among them Noeleen Lalara, Nikisha Wanambi, Sheanah Marawili, Kaysheanne Murrugun, Annabell Amagula, Lusanne Murrugun, Marcia Mamarika, Arabella Wanambi, Elsie Bara, Lily Yantarrnga, Charmaine Kerindun, Meaghan Wanambi, Angela Robyn Williams, Maureen Bara, Maicie Lalara, Bernadette Watt, Lucinda Murrugun, Janelle Mamarika, Noelita Lalara, Shirly Yantarrnga, Stephanie Durilla, Natalie Yantarrnga, Chailene Yantarrnga, Charlene Wanambi, Alice Durilla, Sharna Wurramara, Rebecca Yarntarrnga, Rita Bara, Sue Bara, and African artists Joel Haikali, Nesindano Namises, Samson Ogiamien, and Laimi Kakololo.
The exhibition sees both wings of the former Church of San Lorenzo come alive with newly commissioned multimedia works. In the west wing, the Repatriates Collective welcomes viewers into an immersive installation combining sand, thousands of characters made of shell and textile, video and sound. Sand from Noeleen Lalara’s land anchors the work, with a vast dune transformed into a living landscape of totems, clans, and songlines. Indigenous dolls made at the Anindilyakwa art center and Laimi Kakololo become a chorus of ancestral messengers, acting as vessels of memory and continuity. These characters are brought to life in film and the installation is saturated in songs that carry wisdom across water, bridging two communities across continents, in a sound composition by Rebekah Wilson.
Still of Tide of Returns, Groote Eylandt, 2025. Photo: Britten Syd Andrews
In the east wing, a textile–video installation by Verena Melgarejo Weinandt traces gestures of care, belonging, and collective healing. Woven, blue-toned fabrics occupy the space, threaded with black braids that recall both flowing water and strands of hair. Embedded within the textile landscape, a three-channel video follows a performance of preparing, braiding, and washing textiles in a river. Through this cyclical act—hands weaving, water cleansing—the work meditates on the continuity of bodies of water, where rivers become oceans. The intertwining of hair and current evokes ancestral memory, with water carrying histories of care and resilience.
Still Verena Melgarejo Weinandt, Vienna 2025.
For public announcements see:
https://tba21.org/tideofreturns
www.e-flux.com/announcements/655112/program-2026
https://www.instagram.com/oceanspaceorg
https://www.instagram.com/repatriates.erc/