The Dreaming
The meaning and the purpose of this painting and why it came to be, it represents me, who I am as an Aboriginal man. My bloodlines, my song lines, my ceremonies, my culture but it also represents the times of creation. The snake represents my creator spirit Biami, the rainbow serpent. The kangaroo represents Marloo the giant kangaroo. The goanna represents Barryibala the sand goanna and Bigarrumudja the emu man. The crosshatching you see or the raak patterns represents my Connection with Country and my song lines. The diamond patterns represent the Men’s business and our lore. The handprints you see are the ancestral spirits that walk the lands and guard sacred sites. The colours come from country ochre. Yellow for medicine and women also Mother Earth. Ochre red for Men’s ceremony and Men’s business and black and white for sacredness. The grubs you see are whitchety grubs and bardi grubs; the black circles are the spots you collect them from with a long stick to pull them out symbolic for our bush tucker and living off the land this is the dreaming, my country, my culture, my identity. It is me. Every single pattern and line that you see on the painting has purpose and meaning. South-East coast region, we are linear design peoples and that is the traditional way of telling story within Yorta Yorta.
