Mudang Butbut (Brisbane, 2025)

Trees, as with all living things, sit very comfortably within our Cultural ecosystem. Trees, also known as Diramu in my language, have long provided us with the natural materials we require survive and to thrive on Country. Trees help to hold our Cultural knowledge via a Cultural practice that has come for millennia before us. Trees, like humans, also bare scars. These scars can be man-made, but most are contained within the trees trunk, at its heart. These are. In the delicate shape that look like rings and are a precise annotation of a living memory that is individual for each tree. 

Trees, like humans are social and are known to communicate with one another through their root systems. A tree is able to ascertain that a neighbouring tree is depleted of water or minerals and can work through its roots in the ground to provide those nutrients to its friend or family. 

I use the metaphor of the tree, to disguise the personal nature of what I am exploring in these works to keep my heart safe. 

It is very clear that we are at a time in the world where we bare witness to the magnitude of consequences there are for we humans around identity and belonging. Sovereignty and Colonial oppression. Regardless of your perspective, these things impact your core, your heart. They shape you in ways that may not be conscience but will remain with you and your kin for time immemorial.

It follows that each tree’s unique set of rings held at its core, it’s heart, are a documentary of the life of the tree.

These trees rings are the documentary of my life, my identity and the forces which have shaped it.