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Badu Gili: wonder women art projects on the sails of Sydney opera house.

Badu Gili Wonder Women Lighting of the Sails

Daily from sunset, 8.30pm, 9pm and 9.30pm

Badu Gili - meaning ‘water light’ in the language of the traditional owners of Bennelong Point, the Gadigal people - is a free daily experience that explores First Nations stories in a spectacular six-minute projection on the Opera House’s eastern Bennelong sails.

Watch the sails illuminate with Badu Gili: Wonder Women, a new projection celebrating the work and stories of six female First Nations artists, created in collaboration between the Opera House and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to mark the Gallery’s 150th anniversary.

Celebrating First Nations culture

A celebration of the rich history and contemporary vibrancy of Australia’s First Nations culture, Badu Gili continues the traditions of Bennelong Point, formerly known as Tubowgule ('where the knowledge waters meet'), a gathering place for community, ceremony and storytelling for thousands of years.

Badu Gili: Wonder Women, curated by Art Gallery of New South Wales Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Coby Edgar, is a creative collaboration between the Opera House and the Art Gallery of New South Wales to mark the Gallery’s 150th anniversary. The vibrant new animation of artworks weaves together the works and stories of six female First Nations artists from across Australia. Find out more about the artists below.

An important pillar of the Opera House’s year-round First Nations program, Badu Gili is an essential Sydney cultural experience for both visitors and the local community that aims to foster and celebrate a shared sense of belonging for all Australians.

View the Sydney Opera House Reconciliation Action Plan

Badu Gili: Wonder Women is proudly funded by the NSW Government through the Culture Up Late initiative, which is part of the Summer in the City program

Badu Gili has been enabled by the Opera House, its Idealist donors and the Australia Council for the Arts since 2017

Proudly funded by the NSW Government and curated by the Art Gallery of NSW

Watch the Audio Described Lighting of the Sails

Meet the artists

Watch the Curator’s introduction

Coby Edgar a curator standing next to Badu Gili artwork.

Meet curator Coby Edgar

Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of NSW

Coby Edgar is a Larrakia, English, Filipino woman from Darwin. Now based in Sydney, Coby is curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Since joining the Gallery in 2016, Coby curated Joy, which brought together works by artists from Central Australia and celebrated the importance and joy of making art; she worked on the Gallery’s online social project, Together in Art; and contributed ‘Sentient portraits’ to the Gallery’s recent Archie Plus project (2020-21), whereby the voices of artists could be heard alongside their works. In 2015, she was Assistant Curator of TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

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