The Sound: Ancestral Listening in The Art And Australia Landscape begins with a pause and invitation to listen: We pay our respects to the final rest of Paiwan Ravar master flautist and vuvu Pairang Pavavaljung (b. 1935 – d. 2023).  

This capsule of Translating the Art and Australia Landscape is an exchange and residency project with Indigenous Taiwan. Paiwanese has a distinct grammatical structure from both Mandarin Chinese, lingua franca of Taiwan, and English. Further, the language differed by tribe, village, clan, and social position. There is no standardised Paiwanese, neither does it have an agreed-upon written form. The written form was the non-Paiwanese way.  

Working with Etan Creative Vision Art Studio, editors and authors for The Sound looked equally into Paiwanese and non-Paiwanese knowledge forms. It includes a sound piece by Pairang Pavavaljung, a poem by Etan Pavavalung, a textual translation of Howard Morphy’s “Saltwater Country,” and residency and public performances with Art+Australia in October 2024.