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“My granddaughter’s skin is Nyajarri. Nyajarri is a bush turkey and its blackfella name is Bingrrbal. We tell ‘em all the kids, this lot of animals, they got skin name and blackfella name. Well this one, he bin travelling with the emu, and this one, this bush turkey, he had been having too much bush tucker, and so he (she) said “No, I gotta camp here, it’s dark.”
Shirley talks about the Ngarrangarni (Dreaming) that relates to the bush turkey. The bush turkey was travelling with the emu, and they got loaded with food during a regular hunting trip, and the emu wanted to keep on going, but the bush turkey got tired and refused. The place that was loaded with this bush tucker is in present day Violet Valley.
This exhibition features new works from ten women artists reinterpreting and reimagining elements of Australian history, enriching the contemporary narrative around Australia’s history and biography, reflecting the tradition of storytelling in our country.
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