Fifty thousand years

2023
Mixed media on canvas
99cm x 122cm

I was born in Karratha, where memories of juxtaposed colours of blue and red coupled with a landscapes of quiet textures stayed with me my whole adult life. It’s heavily influenced my perspective and indelibly the way I resolve my paintings.

On a recent visit back to Kararatha after many decades away, I was lucky to take a tour of the Murujuga (Burrup) under Clinton Walkers patient guidance. I was so moved when I saw that place and the incredible stories of Aboriginal history, traditions, spirituality and ceremony attached to it.

I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing and importantly, what I was feeling. I was in awe. Struck by the ancient kunbim (ancient rock art) and the visual history it was not only telling me now, but had told thousands over millennia. Simply amazing… and it’s still here. It’s still teaching us.

I felt incredibly humbled and moved when I left that day. I felt changed. I felt privileged to see a glimpse of a time where the traditional owners lived, worked and played before the horrors of colonisation and now, the expanding industrialisation.

An incredible experience and one I hope everyone can see once in their lifetime.