This participatory site- and culture-responsive audio installation, created by Aotearoa (NZ)-born, Sydney-based public artist Allan Giddy, utilises the natural flow of water to convey the voices of First Nations children, speaking their messages to their community, their countries and the world in their First Languages. The children’s words, recorded and edited into soundscapes, are being ‘released’ into the water to flow to the oceans. This work is essentially invisible to passersby, yet the underwater audio can be accessed via a poetically simple means: a pole held with one end in the water, the other against the ear. As the project progresses the words that flow from children around the world will, metaphorically, eventually meet and mix with each other in the interconnected oceans of our globe. This intermingling of First Words will symbolise both the strength and support that First Cultures draw from establishing relationships with each other globally, and the interdependent nature of all humanity. 'Flow' is supported by the Australia Council, Create NSW and Creative New Zealand, and is endorsed by the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). In the Shoalhaven region Allan has created 'Bungli Flow', working with First Nations children speaking Gumea-Dharawal, in partnership with Red Room Poetry’s ‘Poetry in First Languages’ project and with Bundanon Trust, and supported by Create NSW.

'Flow' is a participatory, site- and culture-responsive audio installation by Aotearoa (NZ)-born, Sydney-based artist Allan Giddy which utilises the natural flow of water to convey the voices of First Nations children, speaking in their local languages, around the world. Recorded and edited into soundscapes, the children’s voices are ‘released’ into the water to flow to the oceans.