ARTIST STATEMENT
Culture is woven throughout everyday life; however, Indigenous culture is one of the most elaborate, endless histories. Trails focuses on Indigenous song lines and their disruption through colonisation. The fragmented tree discs are symbolic of this dismemberment of culture, thus represented via severed tree limbs. This is contrasted with branches that signify song lines demonstrating how colonisation caused destruction to communities, leading to loss of culture. The broken song lines are echoed in the broken branches. The birds embody connotations of migration that suggest constant movement throughout the land. Likewise, Indigenous communities were forced to leave their land and customs behind during colonisation.
ARTWORK PROCESS
Trails was inspired by my key artist, Clifford Possum, an indigenous painter. His artwork 'reclaiming the land' inspired me to explore indigenous culture and how it was affected by colonization. This led me to the concept of songlines. Songlines are songs that map out the land, which are passed down to the younger generations, so they continue this tradition and build their understanding of the land. However, in my artwork, I represented how the colonization led to broken songlines, which is why in Trails, the branches are broken off at the ends as the colonization prevented songlines from continuing.
