Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery will be open late on Friday January 23 with First Nations DJs Fosters and Pvrtal taking over the decks with an electric mix of melodic afro, shuffling house, disco and techno, layered with First Nations sounds and vocal samples.
The DJs' tunes will encourage those attending to move their body and spirit. Held on Bunurong Country, the high-energy night is all about rhythm, culture and coming together.
Visitors can also explore Unfolding, an exhibition of First Nations works on paper from the MPRG collection, celebrating the significance of paper as a powerful tool for the transfer of knowledge, stories, and contemporary artistic expression.
"Historically the 4/4 beat helps to regulate trauma, if you look at corroborees and you look at tribal dancing particularly across First Nations communities here in Australia. I see that translated in a modern sense, when I see a dancefloor and someone's had a really heavy week at work and wants to wash themselves off and it's this really therapeutic experience for them. The 4/4 beat has definitely had a role in healing and optimizing the emotional health and wellbeing of Aboriginal individuals but also their community as well," said Henry Purcell (Fosters).
Created by Purcell - a proud Narungga and Wotjobaluk - man raised in Naarm, the music Fosters creates is inspired by his lived experience as an Aboriginal man connecting and learning about his culture, whilst trying to advocate and educate others through music, dance and storytelling.
Fosters believes music is inexplicably tied to our nature as humans and we rely on music to facilitate our connections with one another, on social, emotional and spiritual levels. Fosters broke into the Naarm dance music scene in 2015 and has developed a strong reputation for his eclectic and shuffling sets ranging from melodic afro through to shuffling house, disco and techno.
Fosters has supported many diverse international artists including Fatboy Slim and Sven Vath, he was the co-host of his own radio show 'The Weekend Chug' on Kiss FM, Dance Music Australia.
Pvrtal (Harley James) is a proud Gunai, Yorta Yorta, and Waywurru artist based in Naarm who you can find spinning hard house, trance and techno across clubs including turbo422, Glamorama and Revolver Upstairs.
On top of working as a curator and event organiser, he's also a founding member of the Tjum Tjumba record label where he continues to push for stronger Blak representation across clubs, labels and festival lineups while carving out a distinct identity in the city's electronic scene.
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