Reverse Anthem

An artwork by Kate Daw & Stewart Russell created in collaboration with Jonathon Welch AM, Amrita Hepi (Bundjulung/Ngapuhi) & Antuong Nguyen with key singers, Danielle Matthews, Shauntai Batske (Wiradjuri), Eddie Muliaumasealii & Daniel Brinsmead.

Commissioned for RISING Festival this year, the artwork sadly missed its moment in the sun before the festival was cancelled, but thankfully: it was beautifully filmed and you can now see it at Fed Square each night at 5.15pm until Sunday July 11. In a collaboration between artist, filmmaker, choir and choreographer, the Australian National Anthem has been musically arranged back-to-front and upside-down, creating a new – pretty eerie – language.

Reverse Anthem is a collaboration between artist, composer, film maker, choreographer and choir, driven by a desire to contribute to contemporary debates on national identity. Through Jonathon Welch AM’s treatment, Reverse Anthem can be seen as a provocation or lament to impossible claims made by Advance Australia Fair to unite us in 2021. Reverse Anthem stands-up to ingrained inequalities in Australian society, championing reconciliation through collaboration and positive action.

Through the challenge of learning to sing the anthem back to front and upside down, we raise our collective voices in support of everyone on the outside. 

Kate Daw ( 1965 – 2020 )

“We’d be working with Jonathon on Reverse Anthem for over a year when Kate was diagnosed with cancer and tragically, during the development of this work Kate, our friend and generous collaborator, passed away. Naturally we’d all like to dedicate this work to her. But I know she wouldn’t approve of that gesture. In her art she chose to highlight the achievements of others, to collaborate and teach us to de-value the ego of the artist.” Stewart Russell.