EACH POST IS ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC & REVIEWED REGULARLY.
By now you may have picked up that I have a deep love for Australia’s unique and wonderful wildlife and have enjoyed painting many versions of it…..
KOOKABURRA
BRUSH TAILED POSSUM
In this post however, I invite you to contemplate with me, the human component of this great continent.
I think you will agree that Australia has a rich heritage of both black and white cultures as its basis. As the population now moves more and more into a broader multi-cultural society, I feel it is most important that we preserve and learn from this history, healing the rifts that divide us.
Over my short lifetime in the scheme of things, I’ve pondered the question of our sense of belonging – our attitude to the planet we call home – and ways different cultures perceive this.
All too often there has been an attitude that the earth and its riches are there to plunder - unfortunately often with excessive greed and only the short term dollar in mind. Whether intended or not, this is a huge blot on the history of the world’s human activities that we now realise must be urgently addressed.
At last, it is clear that this short-sightedness has lacked responsibility in our role as caretakers of the planet. As global warming affects the earth and species become extinct at an alarming rate, urgent action is needed by us all, right down to the lights we switch off or the shopping bags we use. There is a huge, growing worldwide awakening and wonderful inventors everywhere are looking to technology to solve its own problems. After all, we reap what we sow.
The traditional indigenous knowledge (Australian aboriginal, American Indian & others) has been that “we belong to the earth” rather than “the earth belongs to us” and that we have the great honour and responsibility of being its caretakers. I feel we have so much to learn from these cultures as we move towards realisation of this fundamental truth.
These were my thoughts as I tried to portray these two opposing viewpoints in the painting below. I donated it by request to the Aboriginal Lands Board in Darwin. The painting indicates the dividing of the land into allotments with each division marked with a Deposited Plan number claiming ‘ownership’, thus attaching a price to that which nature has given freely. In the meantime, the aborigines in the painting look on to the expanse of landscape with different eyes – seeing themselves as belonging to not only the land, but the stars …the universe!
I thought about this sense of ‘belonging to the earth’ deeply and then painted another, attempting to tune in to the deep-rooted, beautiful and simple Aboriginal approach. Maybe my drop of indigenous Shoshone American Indian blood helped me to see this way. Its just a ‘gut feeling’ painting………….
“Dreamscape I”
31/5/08 Stop press!! RECONCILIATION WEEK: The above painting was yesterday awarded FIRST PRIZE in the 2008 Aboriginal Artists Art Exhibition & Competition, taking out the Non-indigenous Award, so I feel deeply honoured. This Exhibition is stunning and will be on display at the Gosford City Arts Centre until July 13th.
The major Tony Donovan Reconciliation Award went to Kerri Anne Patterson for her amazing painting “It’s all our story” which can be seen presenting a wonderful right-hand backdrop for the beautiful Torres Strait Islander dancers in this photo below…
Here is a slide show of the impressive Opening Ceremony…
If slideshow needs activating, click on X at top RH corner or View all images.
It was wonderful to see so many young people supporting this Exhibition as part of RECONCILIATION WEEK 2008. The Gallery resounded with rejoicing as the wonderful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dancers performed to the vibrant rhythms of drums and clapping sticks. Let us recognise this as a further step towards deep and sincere healing and reconciliation.
I, like so many others, have felt for this issue for many years. I am a 6th generation Australian descended from a convict from one of the first “boat people” to arrive at Sydney Cove in 1788 on the First Fleet and I deeply feel for the losses suffered by the Aboriginal people as a result of the white invasion. The painting hereunder was entitled “Lost Lessons” painted in the 1980s..
and here is “Lost Lessons II”
I later, by request, combined these 2 paintings into 1 – so here is “Dreamscape II” which is also on display in the RECONCILIATION WEEK 2008 ABORIGINAL ARTISTS ART EXHIBITION & COMPETITION at Gosford City Arts Centre until 13th July 2008.
Both Tony and I attended a recent “Sorry” day gathering in Gosford along with hundreds of others. We wept in the rain as the heavens opened up as though Nature were crying with us while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his ‘Sorry’ speech. Those attending were able to express their thoughts on pages which will be bound into a book.
21st June 2008 update: We attended the FIVE LANDS WALK – WINTER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION – IN HONOUR OF THE HUMPBACK WHALES MIGRATING NORTH TO BREED AND ALL ABOUT OUR CONNECTION – TO EACH OTHER, TO PLANET EARTH AND BEYOND.
This walk was held on the Central Coast of NSW from MacMasters Beach to Terrigal, culminating in a concert at Terrigal Haven. The slideshow gives an overview of some of the events, including excellent aerial photos of the 2007 mandala on Terrigal Skillion and glimpses of the 2008 mandala created jointly by a Chinese and an Australian Aboriginal artist. An aerial view of the most recent landart mandala may be available to add later. Combining symbology from both Tibetan and Australian Aboriginal cultures, this most recent mandala represents the elements of fire and water, connected by an umbilical chord.
Terrigal Skillion, above, is a natural steep rock formation at Terrigal Haven.
It was extremely moving to walk up the steep Skillion past this impressive land art to the topmost peak where humpback whales could be seen offshore…then to descend again to the Haven where an impressie concert and ceremony took place, including the children of the five lands (MacMasters Beach, Copacabana, South Avoca, North Avoca and Terrigal) singing “FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW” – the song now popularised by Getup. For Tony and I, the quote of the day was “Where there is love, there is no room for anything else”. It would seem that there is at last an awakening to the fact that we all belong to one planet.
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What follows now in this post is along the lines of treasuring Australia’s bush/white pioneer heritage with some paintings I’ve done over the years in this genre. The images of Hill End include the childhood home of my grandmother, Charlotte Pullen, who was born in that area in 1863, daughter of William Toft and Charlotte Pullen who were very active there for some years beFore moving to the Clarence River and becoming early pioneers of Woolgoolga. These images are based on gold mining, sheep & cattle musters, farm & country life. the era of the steam train & so on……………
If slideshow needs to be activated, click on X at the top RH corner.
Please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post if you wish to share your thoughts…………..
Sincerely, Julie 
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