Black Diasporas Boorloo-Perth
Museum of Western Australia
04/2025 (ongoing)
Installation
Exhibition Design
Community Engagement
Advocacy
10 of these stories were made into short films by local Black-African diaspora creatives.
Aerial video of Black Diasporas Boorloo-Perth exhibition
For decades the few stories about people of Black-African heritage in Boorloo-Perth have been written by others about us, or by a select few. Unfortunately, these stories perpetuate ubiquitous stereotypes. We’ve become excessively accustomed to hearing about nefarious Black people and youth1 and, conversely the trope of the model minority ‘Magical Negro’.2
Presenting this work at the Museum of Western Australia honoured the lived experiences of community, and reframed how Black life in Boorloo-Perth is understood.
Black Diasporas Boorloo-Perth trailer
From the outset, we designed the exhibition with adaptability in mind, the TV boxes that showcase the stories were fabricated to be modular and weather-resistant, allowing the exhibition to be installed in both indoor and outdoor settings. This physical infrastructure now forms part of a reusable toolkit that can support future Black Diasporas and Collective Futures projects across schools, libraries, and public spaces both in WA and across the country.
TV box pods and bases diagrams
Storytelling has always been a political act.
The situation is compounded by geography, and lack of connectivity between the suburbs of Boorloo-Perth, without putting a lot of effort to seek alternate sources, a person of Ghanaian or Black American heritage living in Dalkeith learns about a person of Somali or South Sudanese heritage living in Balga through the very lens that perpetuates tropes and stereotypes about themselves: media coverage, policy, and archiving that ignore vast swathes of Black culture.
Black Diasporas Boorloo-Perth documents the experiences of individuals of African ancestry, living in this city, and the spaces and places that have meaning to them. Referencing oral narrative,3 a common tradition throughout the African continent, in Black Diasporas Boorloo- Perth, we literally hear directly from people of African descent about their experiences.
Photograph of community conversations
Through out the week the exhibition was at the Museum of Western Australia Boola Bardip community events were held to discuss issues that came up during the gathering of the stories, these sessions were titled:
- A Black Motherhood Reflection Circle by Blossoming Kin
- Spotting the Signs: Identifying Practical Ways to Support Someone in Crisis (men’s mental health)
- The Western Experience: A Journey of Identity, Culture & Belonging (exploring the experiences of Black Diasporas from the Americas and Europe in Boorloo-Perth)
- The Final Journey: Death, Ritual and Remembrance across the Black Diaspora
- Unmasking Racial Trauma: Reclaiming Cultural and Community Resilience through Body, Mind, Spirit, Culture & Community
- Working for Free (a conversation about the arts eco-system)
- Elders without Borders
- The Black Diaspora Retirement Reality
- Can you speak? Raising children in the diaspora and keeping language alive
- Film Screening and Q&A
- Black Girls Level Up networking event for Black women
- Experiences of the City, Architecture & Life (a conversation supported by Perth Design Week, the Australian Institute of Architects, and the Planning Institute of Australia)
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Scanlon Foundation
team:Exhibition Designers: Kholisile Dhliwayo, Sandra Githinji
Storytellers:
Afeif, Ana, Ayor, Ayuol, Berhane, Bernard, Bernice, Bonface, Brigitte, Bumni, Charles, Colin, Daniel, Deng, Drea, Edith, Eduardo, Eva, Farai, Grace, Henry, Kozo, Langton, Legran, Louise, Lulame, Madison, Mararo, Maria, Maria, Michael, Michelle, Nathan, Nicholah, Nyat, Onikè, Pearl, Raymond, Reuben, Ruvi, Saeed, Shubert, Sileshi, Tawanda, Trinite, Victor, Yande, Yannick, Yetunde, Yirga, Yorelle, Yvette
Interviewers:
Aline, Bellamore, Carole, Chewe, Daniel, Eva, Farai, Isaac, Khumbo, Kiki, Kuda, Lisa, Maame, Mararo, Muza, Nic, Nidal, Racine, Ruvi, Shoshi, Sisi,Valerie, Vuma, Wadzi
Editors:
Chebet Kuntai, Phillip Johnson, Kholisile Dhliwayo, Sandra Githinji
Curator: Kholisile Dhliwayo
Film Directors: Abuk Lual, Jennay, Khalid Elmi, Linda Iriza, Mararo Wangai, Mohammed ‘Ayo Busari’, Nic Casta, Nidal Saeed, Tinashe Dzawoma
Trailer: Kalu Oji
Project Advisory:
Bellamore Ndayikeze, Linda Iriza, Mararo Wangai, Muza
Gondwe, Ruvi Goredema, Sandra Githinji, Wadzi Katsidzira, Kholisile Dhliwayo
Photography and videography of exhibition: Tim Campbell
Fabricators:
TV boxes - Marketstall (Melbourne)
TV box bases - Artitecture (Perth)
Printing newspapers - Scotts (Perth)
Exhibited at the Museum of Western Australia 2025
Perth Design Week 2025
References:
1 Murray, P. (2018, November 6). Time to be open about ethnic crime. The West Australian. https://thewest.com.au/opinion/paul-murray/time-to-be-open-about-ethnic-crime-ng-b881013722z
2 “One such commentor, K.Anthony Appiah (1993) defined the magical Negro as ”the noble good-hearted black man or woman “whose sense pulls the White character through crisis. Appiah
labelled the helpful Black characters as “saints. “He further asserted that saintly Black characters are morally equivalent to their “normal White counterparts. P137-138
3 Kalu. (2000). African literature and the traditional arts: speaking art, molding theory. Research in African Literatures, 31(4), 48.