The Multiple Being: Multispecies Ethnographic Filmmaking in Arnhem Land, Australia

Ethnographic filmmaking can be an effective way of discovering layers of meaning, in this instance the concept of the “multiple animal,” where a significant animal’s multiplicity is revealed through ceremony and everyday encounters. Here we combine more-than-human sociality and multispecies ethnography with observational filmmaking, in relation to my own filmmaking and the earlier work of Ian Dunlop, and in collaboration with Yolngu communities in northeastern Arnhem Land. A re-examination of Dunlop’s visual ethnography, supplemented by my more recent film work, offers new insights into Yolngu perceptions about other beings, beyond symbolic metaphors and totems.