Artist: Cultural Partnership Mosaic by Doug Archibald, the late Uncle Jim Ridgeway, Paul Maher and members of the community
Artwork Name: Awabakal dreaming
Medium: mixed glazed tiles, Merewether churt, concrete, brass
Date Created: 2001
Awabakal Dreaming was a cultural partnership project resulting from the Aboriginal Reference Group’s and local Aboriginal community’s desire to pay tribute to the Awabakal people by celebrating their ‘water place’ stories.
The process involved two sessions of interactive and recorded storytelling by the late and much respected Elders Uncle Cyril Archibald and Uncle Ken McBride, joined by other community members. The artists and several Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal volunteers sat
in on the sessions. The stories told in these sessions were used as a basis for the design, along with the artists’ research. It was agreed that stylistically the group would steer away from the Western notion of perspective and the better known Aboriginal dot-painting styles that emanate from the desert areas, in favour of a design that better reflected the ‘local’, such as petroglyphs (or rock carvings). The completed mosaic is positioned in pride of
place at the entrance to the gallery and comprises symbols of the local environment and Creation Beings such as Biame, Biraban and Kow-wah. It is a day-today reminder of the ongoing relationship between the Aboriginal Reference Group, the community and the gallery.
Supported by the Australia Council for the Arts Community Partnership Project.