Bankstown Koori Elders Group – Aboriginal Elders Ceramic Arts Project
This year for ClubGrants, Revesby Workers’ Club funded 15 different projects, supporting various local community organisations, sporting groups and charities. One of our supported community projects, The Bankstown Koori Elders have begun working on their Aboriginal Elders ceramic arts.
Waterhole of Kinship
Their piece, Waterhole of Kinship is one of the finalists at the Shepparton Art Museum for the Indigenous Ceramic Award, exhibition open from 13 August to 4 December 2022. The Bankstown Koori Elders Group reflected as a group the importance of water; on the many forms it can manifest. With this piece, they can try to reconnect with their sacred rivers, waterholes and oceans that kept their ancestors strong and alive. “We recall words from our Elders, ‘no water, no seasons’”. From the dreamtime, water has been a vital source of beginnings, creatures large and small. “Our Wise Elders respected the water because they knew it was a giver for life. In this spirit, we created this artwork and dedicate it to the up-and-coming new generations, in the hope that they will carry on the love and the respect for all living things.”
Gathering with Respect
Their beautiful piece, Gathering with Respect reflects on the immense richness and diversity of their home and Country. “It is giving us plants for food to sustain us, for medicine to help us heal and to use in secret ceremony.
As First Nation Elders, we as a group, have worked together to create this sculpture to show some of our plant life that our ancestors would have known since the Beginning of Time”.
The Bankstown Koori Elders Group have also been asked by Crackpot Gallery at Fresh Water, “Land and Sea” Exhibition to show a few pieces by each member of the group in September to October.
Pictures of Aunty Margaret Foat at Chipping Norton Public School on Naidoc Days. Aunty Margaret’s artwork (right) reflects on life on the Georges River.
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines & Islander Day Observance Committee, and it is a time to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements.
