ALICK AND ALBERT
Australia / 2021 / 90 min / DCP
Director : Douglas Watkin
Production : Trish Lake, Meredith Garlick
Introduced by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco
Avant-Premiere
Opening film
In November 2018, Alick Tipoti, an island artist and indigenous language activist, welcomes H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco to Badu Island, in the Torres Strait, northern Australia. This first visit by a foreign head of state to the Badulgal community follows a meeting in Monaco in 2016 on the occasion of the "Taba Naba" exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum. Both the artist and the Prince are driven by the legacy of their ancestors and their personal commitment to the natural world, especially the Ocean. They discuss the similarities and contrasts of their small communities so far apart, and reflect on patriarchal societies and the environmental crisis they face. Alick and the people of Badu share with Prince Albert II their way of life threatened by ocean pollution - ghost nets and plastics - and by climate change.
Alick Tipoti
An islander from the Torres Strait, Alick Tipoti is guided by the traditional cultural practices of his people. He considers it his responsibilitý to bring the stories, genealogies, songs, and other aspects of his culture to image so that it remains accessible for future generations to discover, understand, and practice. He has been given the traditional name of ZUGUB, which allows him to connect with the spirits of his ancestors, the ZUGUBAL. Thanks to this privileged link, he can translate the words of these ancestors through all the delicacy and complexitý of his linocuts.
Alick Tipoti is represented in the collections of the British Museum in London, the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, the Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in the United States, and in many Australian museums.