About the Artist As a full time primary teacher, art for me is only on a hobby basis. I have explored and appreciated art from a very young age, however only in recent times I have made it more than just an interest from time to time and now search for commission opportunities. I have explored many mediums, normally willing to have a go at anything that people ask of me. Spit shading and an interest tattooing drew me back into taking up art again and from there I have explored sign painting, wall murals, concrete school activities and posca art. Of late, I have put my focus more into traditional Aboriginal art using natural ochre to explore my family culture and to create a style of my own to tell stories. My current artwork focus is inspired by stories and practices of my cultural heritage, the people of Boon Wurrung. I draw on dreamtime stories, spiritual ancestors, geographical locations and paint my stories using traditional natural ochre as my medium. My inspiration to explore comes from my mother, a baby of the Stolen Generation, and my art research and practice helps me learn more to close the gap on our unknown family history and connect to our people and Country. I have chosen ochre as my current canvas medium focus, over acrylic, to keep my artworks as traditional as possible and to continue the methods used by our people to not only and explore and learn for myself, but to also pass on to my own children. About the Artwork This piece tells a story of Nairm (Port Phillip Bay) and the communities of the Kulin Nation people. Many years ago, the biik (land) we now call greater Melbourne extended right out to the warreeny (sea). Nairm was then a large flat grassy plain. The Yarra River, as it is known today, flowed out across this flat plain into the warreeny. For the Boon Wurrung, this wurneet (river) was known as Birrarung (the river of mists). One day – many, many years ago – there came a time of chaos and crisis. The Boon Wurrung and the other Kulin Nations were in conflict. They argued and fought. They neglected their biik, the native murnong and the animals were over killed and not always eaten. As this chaos grew the warreeny became angry and began to rise. The wurneet became flooded and eventually the whole flat plain was covered in baany (water). It threatened to flood their whole barerarerungar (Country). The baany never subsided and stayed to create a large bay that the Boon Wurrung called Nairm. Today it is known as Port Phillip Bay.