Earth Shield, for protection

Earth Shield is a metaphor for protection for the world as a whole. The issues affecting our planet, including the under Country, Sky Country, plants, animals, waterways, soil erosion and extreme weather are a result of climate change and in many cases environmental shifts caused by humans.

The Wadawurrung ancestral shield that I have chosen to paint depicts a carved water pattern that has been smoked and then ochre rubbed into it. We were known as the water people, with my ancestors holding water as a sacred and valued spirit (yaluk murrup) equal to humans and holding its own importance. This way of thinking is why First Peoples constantly place importance on the connections to the land and people as one and why we need to take care of Country as family and kin.