Thanampool karrakeet koong kamateeyt (woman's marks and body paint)
Maker
Vicki Couzens (b.1960)
Date
2017
Description
"Aboriginal life, from the everyday through to the most secret and sacred, is governed by a holistic spiritual belief system founded in the Dreaming, which I distil into two quintessential principles or values: respect and relationship. These principles underpin the Law of the land - that is, laws for living; how each person is connected to the great web of life through skin, kin, totems and Country. It involves ceremonial rituals that maintain ancestral stories and songlines. Because the land is the mother, we belong to her. We are charged with the responsibility to care for our Country, our mother, and all creatures, in perpetual seasonal cycles of renewal and regeneration.
Birth, life, death: three pivotal transitions in human existence. Growing up into a woman with the capacity to give birth; becoming pregnant, nurturing a life within; giving birth, labouring to push forth a new life - these are all momentous and (hopefully) enriching and fulfilling experiences. The cycle of growth is made up of archetypal phases in a woman's life: growing from a girl-child into a young woman, then mother, and finally grandmother or crone. Being a mother is both gift and responsibility." Dr Vicki Couzens, 'The Women's: Carers, Advocates and Reformers' exhibition catalogue, 2019, excerpt, pp.5-10.
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