BUTJI (CARRY)
The Lock Up, Moolumbinba (Newcastle) NSW, 2025
Butji (Carry) is an embodied soundscape composed for Locked On, Karla Dickens’ searing exhibition on the cycles of incarceration, resilience, and release. Recorded on the coastal edge of Horseshoe Beach, where wattle, pigface, and wind meet the human remnants of displacement — the work carries breath, pulse, and Country through layers of field recording and voice. It is both anchor and offering: a slow exhale that honours the women who hold grief, rage, and love in equal measure. Within Karla’s charged installation, Butji becomes a vessel for memory and resistance - sound as salve, ceremony, and survival.
Multichannel soundscape
Duration: 6:36
Composed by Nicole Smede