Aboriginal Art Exhibitions at Pandanus Gallery
August 13 to September 10 2009
THE INAUGURAL EXHIBITION OF STONE LITHOGRAPHS FROM THE TORRES STRAITS
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Billy Missi has transformed the oral history of his Torres Straits clan into works of art by
means of the ancient craft of lithography. Stories are translated into patterns and marks
creating beautiful and sometimes ethereal images.
Important stories, song, dance and traditions were imparted to Billy by senior male members of the
Wagedagam Tribe gave him an unbroken link to the cultural heritage of his people.
Billy Missi draws from the four totems he has inherited and the traditional carved markings of his
people to tell stories that were crucial to the life on the islands. All aspects of daily life were
dictated by seasonal occurrences such as the nesting of the turtle of the abundance of seahorses.
An ancestral providence allows Missi to express the significance of his kinships and the
importance of many generations of clans in Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait). Through an ancient
iconography of symbols, clans and totems he demonstrates modes of representation
collectively associated with the Maluilgal. He is a part of the Wagedagam Tribe with the major
totem of Koedal (crocodile) and an associate member to the Dhanghal (dugong) clan of Panai
to the East and the Kaigas (shovel nose ray) clan of Geomu to the South on the Island of
Mabuiag.
Expressed as pattern, the ancient iconography includes symbols of fish bones and dugong
bones. Pattern becomes the central motif of a visual language derived from distant kinship links to
Melanesian woodcarving and stone engraving, the origins and destiny, of the seafaring people of
Zenadh Kes.
Buai Dagamngu Garpalagi - Along Ancestral Lines
PAST AND PRESENT CULTURE OF ZENADH KES
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This piece of art May Dhoeril symbolises the history and identity of Kenadh Kes (Torres Straits) as well as the impact of colonisation. The changes in Kenadh Kes are embedded in the ten Dhoeril. The artwork is made of pearl shell which has significant importance to the history of the Zenadh Kes region.
The Dhoeri is also known as a Dari (Meriam Mir, traditional language name) or Dhoeri (Kala Lagaw Ya, traditional language name) and it varies in design from island to island. The Dheori was used by warriors for fighting and dancing ceremonies.
This particular work entails the true identity of the culture of Kenadh Kes from the past when the culture was practised in all aspects of everyday life. The Dhoeril are in a sequence format ranging in size. The largest tells how the culture was held in high regard by Torres Strait islanders of Zenadh Kes. The ninth Doheri depicts the start of gradual decline in traditional culture since the impact of Europeans and other cultures. The last Dhoeri which has no design symbolises the era today and how I perceive the erosion of our identity, traditional language and culture.
In recent times most Torres Strait Islanders make the Dhoeri using non traditional materials such as nails, glue, wire and paint. The design which is cut into the feathers on the Dhoeri is linked to significant cultural information.
The Warup (drum) in my artwork symbolises a form of communication between the islands.
In the year 1981 Eddie Koiki Mabo and other plaintiffs took the Federal Government to the High Court of Australia to determine land ownership for traditional inhabitants. The historic court case was known as the Mabo Case.
On the 3rd of June 1992, after a lengthy court process, the High Court recognised the native title rights for traditional landowners by overturning the notion of terra Nullius, meaning the land in the Torres Straits belonged to no one at the time of European settlement.
The outcome of the Mabo Case gave local artists the chance to revitalise interest in traditional language and culture of the people of Zenadh Kes. This in turn gave local artists of the region insight and opportunity to look back beyond the footsteps of our fathers and grandfathers. Today we can contemplate the original existence of our culture, our traditional language and our identity. I have endeavoured to embed this into my artwork.
A local Kenadh Kes artist, George Nona has through research, revived the faded culture by replication the original Dhoeri through his artwork. In my work, the second Dhoeri which has the feathers, indicates the revitalising of our culture towards the original larger Dhoeri.I envisage that in the next ten to fifteen years there will continue to be a regeneration of the culture and practises of the people of Kenadh Kes.
It is my strong belief that all forms of art will play a significant and vital role in restoring and establishing our true indigenous identity, cultural traditions and practises for the future generations.
James Ahmat, artist and pearl diver, Badu Island