ARTIST STATEMENT
Spirituality and death are two words that aren't spoken about often. Spiral of Life, explores my cultural and spiritual journey through grief and loss after my mother’s death. Drawing symbols through sand has deep spiritual, cultural and personal significance relating to my mother’s country and her Gwamu dancing through her spiritual totem, the nyurin (emu). The audience is invited to physically interact and engage with the words from the video by arranging 5 words that resonate with their own stories about greif and loss. They are encouraged to contribute to the artwork by capturing their arrangement, to create a new collective collage.
ARTWORK PROCESS
Creating spirals, waves, dancing motions and emu footprints, in the sand remind me of when my Mother and sisters would dance on the warm sandy ground, full of bindies. The audio in the background of the film, is myself speaking chosen words from a poem I wrote about my Mum when she passed away - using only the essence of the poem so the poem still remains private. The audience is invited to respond with their own story, arranging 5 words that are photographed to create a collective collage that explores stories of grief and hope.
