Nicole Smede

YULIMBA (to come back)

WINNER - Wollongong Art Prize, Local Artist, Wollongong, NSW 2025
FINALIST - Wyndham Art Prize, VIC 2025 
The LockUp, Newcastle, NSW 2025
Jennings Kerr, Robertson, NSW 2024

The act of return: to self, to ancestry, to Country. A ritual of reconnection where the ocean becomes witness, the body becomes landscape, and the ceremony becomes a dialogue between past and present. The work layers song, spoken word, and the physicality of land-based ritual to uncover what was concealed through time, reclaiming cultural memory and forging a relationship with Country grounded in respect, reciprocity, and intention. Yulimba is both archive and living practice, honouring ancestral lineage and the spirit of place while charting a new, sovereign path forward - embodied, vulnerable, and reverent.

Single-channel video, sound, colour. duration: 8:49 sec.
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 still, printed poem, handwoven dillybags.
Videographer: Tad Souden