First Nations Peoples should be aware that this page contains images of a deceased persons.
DHINAWANGU WALAAYBAH (2016)
Weaver
Amy Hammond Gamilaroi Yinarr
Materials
Lomandra Grass and Emu Feathers. Collected by hand on Country.
Dimensions
1.7 meter diameter
gallery
Photography Miranda Heckenberg
Dhinawangu Walaaybaa (Emu’s Nest/Home) (2016)
Weaver Gamilaroi Yinarr Amy Hammond
Singer Gomeroi Murri Marc Sutherland (Gomeroi Dance Company)
Dancer Gomeroi Murri Brad Flanders (Gomeroi Dance Company)
Film Production Gomeroi Yinarr Tess Reading
Dhinawan (Emu) has always lived on Gomeroi Country, our culture teaches us about their deep connections and our responsibility to look after them. In our Communities we share Dhinawangu garaygalga (Emu Stories) and teachings in many ways, through our weaving, kinship, yarning, dancing, painting, song, walking Country and looking in the night sky.
Weaving has been a part of Gomeroi Country since Creation and it has the power to hold deep cultural energy and stories. My weaving shares culture and truth telling, a reflection of the times. I cannot share the beauty and strength of Dhinawan with you without acknowledging their genocide. The last 200 years of colonisation have seen Dhinawan massacred, forced off Country and its walaaybaa destroyed by the expansion of western progress like agriculture, early government culls and invasive species. The Tamworth New England Region continue to benefit from Dhinawangu genocide and it is executed as business as usual in 2019.
My woven lomandra mat and the Dhinawangu feathers represents the nest and home of Dhinawan on Gomeroi Country. The looped film projected behind the mat is of Gomeroi Murri Brad Flanders, he is the dancing Dhinawangu spirit, who is a bubaa (father) taking special care of their eggs and nest. And Gomeroi Murri Marc Sutherland is singing the Dhinawangu song, a special song that we sing for them.
This work shares garaygalga (stories) of Dhinawan and is dedicated to the lives lost and that continue to be lost through colonisation in 2019.
A male emu sits with eggs in his nest. John Carnemolla
Exhibitions
Gomeroi Gali (gomeroi water): Changing Face of the Peel (2016)
By the Tamworth Regional Gallery
https://www.tamworthregionalgallery.com.au/content/event/3512/changing-face-of-the-peel-gomeroi-gali
Exploded Textiles (2019)
By the Art Gallery of New South Wales
https://m.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artsets/2ttwdq
Nhingali ngiyaningu garay (weaving our story) (2020)
By Yinarr Maramali, Gomeroi Dance Company, University of New England and Tamworth Regional Gallery
https://parakeet-dory-ckl2.squarespace.com/config/pages
PROCESS & exhibition
