This big eyed little fellow is a nocternal gliding possum, Thought to be extinct in South Australia since 1939 until DNA tests showed they still inhabit the area. They live in woodland and forest region in parts of Victoria
My memory was when I was 13 years old attending my great grandmothers funeral. For the wake we had emu in a hole cooked the traditinal way. I remember loving it, rich dark meat with yellow fat. My nan talked about the best way to cook emu and how to know when to cook. My favourite memory is telling me about leaving the head out. When the steam comes out of the mouth it was cooked.
The less flattering name is water rat. This is our largest nature rodent. Walking around the shepparton lake at dusk, I saw 3 of these cute little fellows. They life in fresh and blackish water, eating fish, frogs, mussels, crustations and small branches. They are nocturnal.
“This piece was created from a deep exhaustion – an exhaustion with being Aboriginal and with the complicated reality of being “white-passing”. There are moments when my indigeneity becomes public property, when I’m treated like a walking library: expected to educate, explain, argue, defend and perform knowledge on demand. Carrying that emotional load is heavy, and sometimes the urge to “turn it off” feels tempting to stay quiet, to lie, to rest. But that thought is quickly followed by guilt. The ability to rest from your identity, even momentarily, is a privilege and wanting it can feel selfish. It is also impossible to turn “it” off because, I “am”. Being light comes with another burden. It creates a false sense of safety for others, people reveal their racism freely, assuming I am not Indigenous. In those moments, you see the truth of how comfortable some people are with being cruel when they think no one is watching. The goanna in this piece represents my Wiradjuri totem. He is fat, overfed, sluggish and fed up, both literally and metaphorically. He carries the weight of being what he is, unable to change himself no matter how tired or gross he is made to feel inside. I painted him in a deliberately basic AI style, paired with the word “yuck,” because that was the honest reaction I felt while making this work. It’s also a response to the overuse of AI in Indigenous spaces, and the hollow repetition of phrases like “rich tapestry,” which flatten culture into something consumable. This piece sits in that discomfort resentment, guilt, fatigue and refuses to dress it up nicely.”
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county
I created these pieces to pass on knowledge of animals, creatures and tools that are from my home county