I'm an Aboriginal Artist and Cultural Consultant.
My business is shaped around sharing my Aboriginal culture and my cultural intelligence.
I do this by sharing stories of my Country in the artworks I create for organisations and private clients, both national and international. And I license artwork and collaborate on meaningful projects.
I also provide First Nations Strategic advice and insight to organisations to help them in their cultural capability development and engagement with First Nations peoples and communities.
My artistic journey
I am a proud Koori woman and ‘fresh water’ girl of the Wiradyuri people. I am a storyteller and self-taught artist. Painting quietens my mind and supports me in connecting with my Culture, Country, and family. Painting creates a sense of belonging, connects me to County and strengthens my Aboriginal identity.
I started painting to relax from the stress of full-time university studies in 2009. After a lot of expressed interest in my artwork and strong encouragement from an Aboriginal Elder, who advised that I have a responsibility to share my cultural stories and preserve our cultural traditions; I started painting for several art exhibitions and competitions.
My first entry won the main award and the artwork sold. Since then, I have won several awards and shown nationally in different galleries and exhibitions, including Parliament House.
I have created many commissioned artworks for corporate organisations and private collectors, both national and international, and I have painted artworks to raise funds to support Indigenous scholarships, remote Indigenous eye care, disability support services and school programs.
The University of Newcastle Australia
Bachelor of Social Science - Community Welfare and Human Services
My authentic experience
Learning about my culture has been like putting pieces of a puzzle together. Unfortunately, the puzzle will never be complete, due to the impacts of colonisation and past Australian government policies. These gross disruptions have impacted on the accuracy of traditional knowledge and stories that I am responsible to pass on. These intrusions have resulted in incomplete and abstract versions of my culture, which are reflected in my art and influence my painting style.
My artistic expression
My painting style is a contemporary fusion of abstract and Aboriginal art, these two styles represent my Aboriginal culture and the abstract of my culture, due to colonisation. At times I use groups of symbols as a way of narrating a story and preserving cultural traditions. It is one of the ways our people passed on information thousands of years prior.
I sometimes use white markings and lines over my artwork in place of traditional ‘Dots’. I do this for a few reasons; aesthetics, to emphasise or highlight, to cover up and not show the entire story, and sometimes when I am narrating a story regarding the impacts of colonisation I will use white to emphasise the impact of colonisations on my people and our culture. Additionally, white ochre is a traditional resource of Wiradyuri Country and was/is used for painting and medicinal purposes. White ochre was also traditionally given as a gift to ‘rite of passage visitors’ entering Wiradyuri Lands. So, at times white will represent a gift from me.
My culture, my stories
I paint stories of my Country, Wiradyuri.
WIRADYURI – means river people or people of 3 rivers.
The 3 major rivers of Wiradyuri Country and their traditional names are:
•The Lachlan (Galari)
• Macquarie (Wambuul or Womboy)
• Murrumbidgee (Murrumbidya or Marrambidya
Wiradyuri people are ‘River People’, environmental scientists. They are skilled hunter, fisher, gathers and bush trackers. Growing up by the rivers and in the surrounding bush was my way of life, and an important element of my families’ spiritual connection and survival. These natural environments sustained our every need, and our lives were so closely woven into the rhythms of these landscapes.
For me ‘Country’ is all things, it is a place of belonging and a way of life. Country incorporates rivers, creeks, waterholes, hills and valleys, plants, animals, and people. Country embraces the seasons, constellations of the sky, and Dreaming Stories. These elements are reflected throughout my artworks to narrate a story.
My aspirations
I am passionate about positively influencing people’s attitudes and awareness of First Nation peoples and our diverse cultures and contributing to the preservation of the longest living culture.
Sharing stories and knowledge the way my ancestors did
My icon
My logo is an expression of myself as an Aboriginal Artist and Cultural Consultant.
The 3 concentric circles represent me as a cultural knowledge holder and the complex layers of my understanding – they symbolise my cultural intelligence and intellectual property.
The 4 U shapes connecting to the concentric circles represent four important aspects of my work:
• Sharing my culture through art
• Building culturally aligned and inclusive organisations
• Celebrating my Aboriginal culture via art workshops and Artist Talks in NAIDOC and National Reconciliation Weeks
• Collaborating on diverse and meaningful projects and artwork licensing
Living on the land as people of the land
I have mixed heritage and am proud of my Aboriginality. I’m a ‘Fresh Water Girl’ of Wiradyuri people in New South Wales. Wiradyuri people, also known as ‘river people’, were environmental scientists, intelligent hunter–fisher–gatherers, who sourced food and resources from the rivers, billabongs and surrounding landscape.
As a child, going to the river and surrounding bush was like going to the grocery store. My paintings are inspired by these landscapes and the connections formed while immersed in these environments and living on ‘Country’.
The major rivers that run through Wiradyuri Country, once sustained many creeks, billabongs and waterholes and the wild life of the area These water-ways were once fresh, crystal clear and relatively untouched and teaming with abundant species of native fish, yabbies’, and turtles.
The surrounding wet lands and bush was also abundant with ducks, waterfowls, marsupials ,reptile wildlife. and much more. We gathered all sorts of wild fruits, berries, yams, wildflowers and grasses. One of my favourite things to source with my Dad was honey, this was done by taking a section of the honey-sack from a native Red Gum or Yellow box tree.
My Dad taught me to respect the resources we gathered and to never take more than we needed or over exhaust a resource, such as a waterhole of its fish.
Exposure to these environments as a child was essential in forming my identity, and these places of passed hold profound cultural and spiritual significance for me. Today, my life remains closely woven into the rhythms of these landscapes, even though I do not reside on my Country. Country and I are interconnected.
Maria in the media
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Specialist vows to bridge cultural gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people”
