Latitudes – Sometimes to One Hundred
A lonely protagonist wanders Western Sydney, monitoring the audio levels of various everyday occurrences. Exploring what it means to give voice and to listen in all its messy and wonderful forms, this film features prose from Eda Gunaydin, animation by Serwah Attafuah and score by Nerdie (1300).
Latitudes weaves together nine artistic commissions from A.Girl, BLESSED, Claire Cao, Eda Gunaydin, Gillian Kayrooz, Mo Aung, Nerdie (1300), Sela Vai, and Serwah Attafuah in three dynamic short films that explore themes of audibility, distance and perspective. 151ºE is the second video in the series.
Prose
I'm shouting but you think I'm angry. It's not too loud. In fact, my parents say that I mumble.
My mother says karnndan konuuyorşun. You speak from your stomach. Over here we project.
The volume on the television at my parents’ place is often turned way up, sometimes to 100. On the train I get good at tuning out music that blasts or trickles out of speakers instead of being pumped primly through earbuds. Some say the former lacks decorum but maybe you're just boring.
I'm kidding. But I don't know about the message this kind of tutting sends: you can use public space, but you have to be quiet. It seems like saying you can exist but not too much.
There's a politics to shushing. I've tutored in libraries where I've been told there's no talking allowed, anywhere. But talking aloud, is how people learn, and I thought that's what libraries were for.
We looked down on noise. But noise isn't always hostile: sometimes it's we who are hostile to it. It's because we've drawn a spurious correlation between criminality and boisterousness. You think what you hear is anti-social, but I think you may not be listening right.
The reality is that the place is some deem inhospitable are usually inhabited, and the parts of Sydney is some say are too dangerous to go can actually be pretty fun. If you've never been there, how would you know? And if you never have, then maybe you're the anti-social one?
I carry around this memory, of a boy in my class who saw me walk into my childhood home, a white fibro that I never thought to be ashamed of, until one day he turned to me and told me I lived in a shithole.
Later, when I was 18, my boyfriend's mother told us to stay clear of rough neighbourhoods like the one I'd grown up in. I think that when you call my home sketchy you don't know what you're saying. Like you think it could be drawn better, but I suspect that you don't even like the first draft.
My friend Tim has an Australianism he likes to say, whenever I say something self-deprecating. If ever I'm in a doubting mood, and I look down and I mumble something like I suck or I'm shit under my breath, he's quick to dismiss it.
He always turns to me and says, loudly, ‘Girl, turn it up.’
It's because he believes something different about what he's heard to be true.
Film
Interviews
‘Eda's words were the first thing that prompted me to create a soundtrack for the Western Sydney experience. I tried to use textures that evoke feelings of turmoil, ecstasy and nostalgia from my life experience in the area. I hope the film and soundtrack will capture some of the essence of the streets in which we grew up. I think there's a lot of strong emotions tied to the images and sounds featured in the short.’
Angus Lin (Nerdie)
Nerdie is a Korean/Australian producer, vocalist, DJ and composer merging hardcore, K-POP, techno and pop. He is one fifth of 1300, a Korean rap supergroup known for its raw energy, emotion and creativity. Nerdie and 1300 are quickly making waves in the world of internet rap with slick production, electronic-fused, sweat-doused instrumentals, original multi-lingual lyrics, expressive beats and genre bending chemistry.
Serwah Attafuah
Known for her surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands populated by afro-futuristic abstractions, Serwah Attafuah is an artist soaring to astral heights. She has collaborated with Charli XCX and Paris Hilton and clients like Mercedes Benz, Nike, GQ and Adobe. Her recent projects include Natively Digital, a Sotheby’s curated NFT auction, and Apotheosis, a live motion capture experience with Soft Centre at the Sydney Opera House.
‘My main point of inspiration was the old Wonderland theme park ruins in Western Sydney. While I never got to experience the park of the ruins for myself, it’s a place I think about often. I wish I got to experience the ruins, looked like a magical place. I hope it inspires people to explore the unknown, whether that’s a physical place, or perhaps somewhere in the mind and heart. I think there’s still a lot of misconceptions about Western Sydney, it’s a place full of culture and diversity where no suburb is the same.’
Eda Gunaydin
Turkish-Australian essayist and researcher Eda Gunaydin works across academic non-fiction, creative non-fiction and memoir. Interested in class, diaspora and race, you can read her debut collection of essays Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance or find her work in the Sydney Review of Books, Meanjin and The Lifted Brow. She is a finalist for the Queensland Literary Award and the Scribe Non-Fiction Prize.
‘This work was inspired by speakers. I grew up going to the drive-in movie theatre in Blacktown and looking at the old drive-in speakers held in the museum’s collections made me think about the way sound operates in Western Sydney. I grew up in a time when the discourse around this region has often skewed negative, focusing on young people and how noisy they are and how much space they take up. It has made think about the ways in which sound is political. Sound — music, talking, parties — is a big part of what makes suburbs vibrant and the script of the film is designed to honour that.’
Latitudes: Sometimes to 100
This film was created and filmed on Darug, D’harawal, Gadigal and Wiradjuri Country. The creators of this film acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land and their continuous connection to Country, community and storytelling. We pay respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Words by Eda Gunaydin
Music by Angus Jin (Nerdie)
Animation by Serwah Attafuah
A Subversus series commissioned by Powerhouse
Directed by VERSUS (Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana)
Commissioning editors: Callum Cooper, Lisa Havilah, Lisa Ffrench
Creative producer: Cara Stewart
Program producer: Nikki Brogan
Creative directors: Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana
Production company: Subversus
Cinematography: Campbell Brown
Senior producer: Justine Moyle
Editor: Sean McDermott
Colourist: Matt Fezz
Title Design: Huy Nguyen
Featuring;
Yvan Karezi
Serwah Attafuah
Angus Jin (Nerdie)
Bom Jun Lim (DALI HART)
Jason Vuong (Pokari Sweat)
Jihun Kong (Rako)
Taeyoon Kim (goyo)
Bethany Cod
Jing Ping Zao
Nina Martinovic
Rosh Veerbangsa
Riley Mills
Tony & Gina
1st AC: Charlie Slessar
Steadicam operator: Max McLachlan
Gaffer: Tommy Keyes
Best boy: Alex Wilson
Art directors: Tanya Babic & Jason Sukadana
Runner: Nicola Bruni
BTS stills: Katie Cao
Collection object cinematography: Brad Jarrett
1st AC: Steivan Hassler
Gaffer: Matt Wilson
Sound design: Mara Schwerdtfeger
Sound mix: Weronika Razna
Voiceover sound recordist and engineer: Guy Fenech, Calico Sound
Thanks to our location partners: Sydney Bazaar, Hey Hey Kebab, Tony, Cathy and Asian Food Market Blacktown
Thanks to the Powerhouse collections team:
Lucy Clark, Bronwyn Dunn, Meredith Freeman, Craig Hull, Nathan Mudyi Sentance, Nick McNamara, Brianna Ranieri, Tom Wilcox and Scott Winston
Special thanks to: Southern Cross Cameras, Nisrine Amine, Ayeesha Ash, Campbell Bickerstaff, Damian McDonald, Stella Palmer and Ramona Telecican.
