Gayadari in Illawarra

 

 There's nothing better to do on a rainy day then explore some great art within a gallery.  My journey took me to Wollongong New South Wales located within Dharawal country.  My reason for traveling was to see the wonderful collection of artworks which were part of the Illawarra Aboriginal Art Trail, which ran from March 11th-March 27th (2022).  The trail featured local art from Indigenous artist's within the Illawarra region.  Read more about the art trail here.

The exhibition featured wonderful art my favourite were two artworks that featured platypuses. The first artwork was entitled Gayadari by Uncle Vic Chapman and it tells the Dhawaral dreaming story of the creation of the platypus you can read the story here.  Uncle Vic Chapman's work represents people, places and things of importance to him during his lifetime of 87 years. His artworks include various mediums such as ceramics, poker work, etching and lithography. Read more about his history here.

Gayadari by Uncle Vic Chapman

Left-Right:Burrul Gungar (Narran Lake) earthenware Uncle Vic Chapman, The Redbreasts earthenware Uncle Vic Chapman

Poster for the 2022 Illawarra Aboriginal Art Trail

Another lovely artwork featuring a platypus was entitled Palaan Dulang Duwi (Platypus river Dreaming) created by Trish Levett.  She is a proud Gundungurra (Southern Highlands area) woman and loves teaching art, dance and culture to the younger generations. Her Traditional name is Kalawatawarra which means dragonfly. She also has her own business called Rite BakAtcha Dreaming,

Palaan Dulang Duwi (Platypus river Dreaming)  by Trish Levett

Another beautiful artwork was called Turtles dreaming by Glen Sutherland. Glen's work depicts stories based on totems and dreaming stories. 

Turtles dreaming by Glen Sutherland

Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation Cultural Centre  and Keeping Place located in Wollongong

The Illawarra Aboriginal Art Trail was lovely and was great to see a wild range of mix media art.

Check out my video below for more footage of art around Wollongong