This painting depicts multiple diving birds swimming among waterlilies.
Painting has been completed using a mixture of modern paintbrushes as well as a handmade grass reed brush called Jarlk. Stippling effect on the body of the birds uses the end of the modern brush, while the fine white outlines uses the Jarlk brush.
Family is very important to me. Whenever I draw my family design in clay, on fabric or on paper, it makes me think about the many good experiences I had when growing up. I enjoyed being out on country, going hunting and fishing, collecting plant foods and camping. I also have fond memories of listening to traditional music and learning our cultural dances. My family design keeps all these personal memories alive like a flame, and like my ancestors before me, I try to create similar happy times with my children and grandchildren.
Kirbaji (Dugong) is an Ancestral Spirit Being (Totem) that I inherited it from my mother’s side. It is my Totem. The dugong was also an important food source for my ancestors. Only men were allowed to hunt them, and only men had the right to cook and distribute the meat to all the families. My uncles and cousins showed me how to hunt dugongs and they passed down to me the cultural knowledge about them.
My ancestors used to wrap the dugong meat in ginger leaves for flavour, close the wraps with a vine and cook them in the ground oven. Dugongs were only hunted on special occasions such as births, weddings and funerals to provide food for large family gatherings.Dugong fat was also melted to make oil which was used as a medicine for skin and hair ailments or as ointment to treat an upset stomach.
