Ilona McGuire
Daniel ‘Danno’ Hansen
There's these energy lines that are connecting all things,
Ilona McGuire is a multidisciplinary artist of Bibbulmun Noongar and Kungarakan lineage. Her practice is heavily influenced by the social impacts of the Australian colony on both Indigenous peoples and whoever calls Australia home. Coming from two strong parents who openly share culture with Australia at large, Ilona consistently finds new ways of expressing community's frustrations, hopes and depth. Post referendum Ilona's artistic output has shifted to projects like Blak Dingo, a Whadjuk-led community of politically and historically conscious individuals. Ilona's practice is truly experimental. She has worked across painting, installation, dance, music and recently drone shows. Throughout all these mediums there has been a through line of respect and deep honouring for the old people who fought before us. Because of this reverence Ilona stands with a level of integrity deeply needed in a post-referendum Australia.
Ilona's contribution to the 2025 Power Station Commission includes illustrations of ancestors – all of whom walked the areas in and around East Perth long before the Power Station stood. It acknowledges the freedom fighters who never backed down in the face of colonialism – Sovereignty was never ceded. These people include Joor’bil (Dool), Monop, Joobytch, Gen’burdong, Woolber, Old Mary, Ngilgie and Fanny Yooreel Balbuk. The figures appear one after the other and stand looking over the river, facing east – tall, proud and unwavering.
Daniel Hansen is an emerging poet from Corrigin, Western Australia who writes about land, kinship, the plants of Noongar Boodjar and history. Initially influenced by hip hop Danno's artistic journey began with poetry. Over the last ten years he has expanded his practice to include song and overarching storytelling. Danno has said his artistic practice has been vital for him through difficult moments in his lifetime, allowing space to reflect and process what's happening around him. Through consultation with Uncle Barry McGuire, Danno has written a new text responding to East Perth Power Station. These words talk to the walls, surrounds and ground deep below – they are the energy lines that connect every living thing. The text will be writ large across the architecture, vocalising Danno's ambitions and perspectives as a proud Noongar man.
That impress on to us lessons about the best ways to live,
If you really just take the time,
To just Nyin Kadadjiny,
With their main directive & sentiment being,
Regenerative measures should definitely be priority.
Because it always has been since the very beginning,
Of EVERY thing before all things existed,
When the earth was a frozen numb place WE called Nyitting,
Where our Dreaming first existed.
Excerpt from ‘Powerhouse Overdrive’, commissioned for Boorloo Contemporary 2025
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