Printmaking: The Scarf Series

In 2008, I responded to the theme 'From ocean to harbour', an exhibition at Mosman Art Gallery of artists working and exhibiting with the Warringah Printmakers Studio. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, harbour originates from an Old English word meaning 'shelter, refuge' or 'occupy shelter'. This duality implicit in its meaning is present in my work. Harbours were built across the Americas, Asia and Africa to shelter occupying ships, while over centuries, traumatising the lives of First Nations people and their descendants, of whom I am one. This theme is intrinsic to my origin story. And as a visual storyteller, I speak from what I know and what has influenced my life.

My Scarf Series is about the many symbolic representations of the scarf and what it represents to me. Many see it as restrictive; for others, it is a sense of freedom. Unravelling Scarf symbolises my life journey, fluctuating like the ocean's tide between happiness and heartbreak. In moments of tranquillity and meditation, I conjure and release the struggles of my forebears as they parallel my life when my haven is a struggle for connection and acceptance.

Seeking a Peaceful Place to Rest My Soul is about people who arrive in boats for refuge from danger and find themselves rejected, dehumanised and locked away. The mother wrapping her scarf around her floating child refers to children who have lost their lives at sea. It is about the loss of humanity, the loss of compassion. The child floating in the open sea represents the dreams, hopes and vulnerabilities of refugees seeking haven.

While travelling through India and Nepal, I passed many trees with scarves and ribbons tied to their branches. These offerings of prayers, often for loved ones who passed, conjured a mournful feeling of loss as they hung, fading over time on the trees. Prayer Scarves and Entangled are monoprints that express my feelings of restriction, my awareness of the passing of time, and my need to unentangle myself from the scars of colonialisation. I can only do this by analysing and expressing its role in my life through my art.