PAGES FROM THE ATLAS | THIS PLACE MY COUNTRY

Pages from the Atlas – ‘This Place My Country’ weaves together sites and sacred accounts from some of the many countries that form this continent. 

The paintings in this exhibition can serve as maps to those initiated. They may be guides to survival, leading to the hidden life-giving sources of water and food, as well as sacred histories of these countries’ creation. More often than not, they are one and the same: the ceremonial, the sacred, and the survival of the country’s custodians are woven together underneath the surface of this continent, and these canvases representing it.

Paji Honeychild – “This place is called Nurtu. We used to stay here when I was a kid. This was a living water hole and we would move from place to place. We never stayed in one place.”

Netta Loogatha – “This is my Country on Bentinck Island at Oak Tree Point. We call it Lookati in our Kayardild language. I was born here at Bilmee, Dog Story Place.”

Jimmy Pike – “Japingka is the main living water for the desert people. Six brothers were living at this place. Two women came and the brothers were turned into a snake. A willy-willy sprang up and dragged them down into the waterhole. The ground grew damp and clouds came up from the ground.”

Mulyatingki Marney – “I’m born there, soak one.”