Penny Phillips and Bunny Nabarula told the crowd at the opening of Manuwangku, Under the Nuclear Cloud they did not want the Federal Government to build a radioactive waste dump on their land.

“We never gave our consent for the waste dump,” Penny said.

“The Government picked out one little group who said yes and no one else was told what was going on.”

The images, which capture the everyday lives of those who are living with the threat of the dump, were taken by Jagath Dheerasekara who spent many months on the project and took thousands of photographs.

“I attempted to document the spirit, connection to land and the collective voice of this community as they try to resist institutionalised racism manifesting, in this instance, in a move to convert their traditional lands to a dumping ground for nuclear waste,” he said.

Speaking to a full house on the opening night of the exhibition, curator Sandy Edwards said while the images were disarmingly simple they left a strong impression.

“It is poignant to view such normalcy of life knowing that it may well be destroyed for this group,” she said.