BIRRUNGA WIRADYURI
Bundyi Giiang (Shared Story)

2021
acrylic on canvas
100 x 183cm

All water in the Goori society is feminine, so it is referred to as “she”.

Different stretches of the river as given different names, but for the purposes of this painting, this stretch of the river flowing down from Ipswich towards the sea is called Mairwar.

She (Mairwar) has seen many changes and has been subject to many of those changes. She is scarred and not the same. Her healing is connected to the healing of our people.

When people look at her, they see the British names, but beneath this is her heart and the names her first born people have her.

Beneath the artwork are her names, are the memory of her beauty and what she provided to her first born children; the Goori.

This painting tells of her sadness and her history; it tells of our sadness and our history.

Her story should be told and with her healing; is our healing.