BIRRUNGA WIRADYURI
Alchemist Gaagal

2023
acrylic on canvas

Subject: Otis Hope Carey – Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung

From the moment I was ever aware of Otis in 2014 he has always struck me as purely salt water, of the ocean (gaagal). I mean this in a Cultural sense as well as in the context of what makes Otis up. This is how I’ve presented this work, with Otis as in and of Salt Water. The pattern across the surface of the water is the alchemy symbol for salt water repeated. That symbol is a circle with a bisecting line atop a triangle. The larger circle at the base of the piece is a lens looking down onto a significant part of Gumbaynggiir Country with the particular rocky outcrop subtly portrayed.

Archibald Entry 2023