YIRRAMBOI 1–11 May 2025
1–11 May 2025
400+ First Nations creatives
70+ international artists
180 performances
40+ venues across narrm
16 World Premieres
12 YIRRAMBOI Commissions
A 10-day feast of mediums spanning the breadth of artistic expression, YIRRAMBOI returned for its fifth iteration, breaking new ground as it took centre stage in narrm’s arts precinct. The 2025 festival explored four powerful anchors — Legacy, Joy, Reclamation, and Akin — that formed the foundation of its most ambitious program to date.
YIRRAMBOI 2025 expanded the festival’s international footprint and centred a new wave of First Nations creative leadership across narrm. With more than 400 creatives, new commissions, international collaborations and a refreshed Festival Hub honouring Uncle Jack Charles, the festival celebrated Blak joy, cultural resurgence and global exchange.
The 2025 Festival hosted a convergence of 400+ First Nations creatives across 180 performances and activating over 40 venues, cracking open the heart of narrm and revealing the hum of Country beneath.
Image Gallery
Program Highlights
BANJ BA WALERT : WATER AND POSSUM
Produced by Stacie Nicholson-Piper, this immersive story was presented to honour Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Vicki Nicholson-Brown, exploring the Wurundjeri tradition of possum skin drums and the creation of Water Dance.
HOLDING S P A C E
Holding S P A C E was a film, photography, and visual art exhibition and installation exploring connections to place and the emotions Country evokes.
DABANA
Iluka Sax-Williams took over the SIGNAL building, presenting his highly anticipated art exhibition, 'Dabana' meaning "to fill up" or "pour in" in the Taungurung language. Sax-Williams invited viewers to immerse themselves in a dynamic exploration of identity and place as a young Indigenous person.
Three Blak Ravers
Three Blak Ravers, a queer horror that dived into a gripping world of supernatural dread and vulnerability in a spine-tingling exploration of identity, fear, and survival. Featuring vibrant LGBTQIA+ characters, this chilling tale explored the limits of identity, fear, and survival. With striking visuals, eerie soundscapes, and a relentless sense of unease, "Three Blak Ravers" promised a night of titillating, unsettling theatre that left you questioning what truly lurks in the dark.
Monster in the Cyborg Body
Performance artist Joshua Pether presented Monster in the Cyborg Body. Staged as a sun-up-to-sundown event at Arts Centre Melbourne's The Channel, this reimagined performance blended Monster with his earlier work, Cyborg Body. Guest artists wove through the work as collaborators and audiences were invited to experience the work at their own pace.
Blak to the Future
Harnessing humour and a heavy dose of satire, Blak to the Future responded to past, present and future, delving into themes of absurdism, horror and the impacts of ongoing colonisation. Blak to the Future served as a place of respite within the bustling CBD, inviting viewers in to rest and reflect — activated outside in the Arts Centre Melbourne Forecourt throughout the festival.
Table for 6
Six extraordinary women — visionaries who have shaped our industry and redefined the arts — came together for a raw, unfiltered, and deeply moving conversation. Starring Kylie Belling, Lily Shearer, Dr. Lynette Narkle, Margo Kane, Rachael Maza and Rhoda Roberts.
Mythosoma
An entanglement of sophic artistic collaboration across the waves of the Pacific, this work featured the dynamically charged talents of Ooshcon, Jada Narkle, Nancy Wijohn, and Moana Ete. The performance flowed through a stunning interplay of Indigenous mythologies, street dance, and contemporary somatic practices. Mythosoma invited an experience beyond convention, transforming the stage into a shifting ecosystem where memory, connection, and imagination converge via soma multiplicity and interconnection.
Cut the Sky
A riveting pre-apocalyptic odyssey of dance theatre, song and storytelling by Marrugeku that questioned the inevitability of climate collapse, and called audiences to imagine alternative futures where we all play a part.
The Uncle Archie Roach Block Party
Closing out YIRRAMBOI Festival 2025, the Uncle Archie Roach Block Party returned, spanning across three venues and headlined by Becca Hatch, Miss Kaninna and Snotty Nose Rez Kids, the evening also featured performances from Amos Roach, Kutcha Edwards, Indigenous All Stahz and many more.
There's Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You...
Legendary Cree-Saulteaux Métis artist Margo Kane, renowned for her groundbreaking contributions to Indigenous performance, returned to the stage with an evocative new work. Drawing from her celebrated storytelling legacy including Reflections in the Medicine Wheel, Moonlodge, and Confessions of an Indian Cowboy. Margo invited audiences to embark on a journey of reflection and transformation.
Barring Yanabul
The 2025 iteration of Barring Yanabul cracked open the heart of narrm/Melbourne, setting streets and laneways alight with installations, visual arts, music, drag and dance.
Festival Guide
