Liz Belanjee Cameron
Liz Belanjee Cameron is a Dharug Aboriginal artist, researcher and scholar who holds the position of Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle. Belanjee blends traditional knowledge of nature from an Australian Indigenous perspective into the contemporary life of people and places. Combining traditional practices within a contemporary aura, Belanjee expresses creative making through the use of fluid fields of colour that echo a rhythmic spiritual space, with densely layered patterning and symbolic shapes projecting hypnotic vibrations, that portray story lines of cultural place. From an Aboriginal perspective, knowledge in artmaking utilises symbols, motifs, and line-markings to inform us about people and place. Her work seeks to bring knowledge and understandings of the rich and diverse cultural landscapes within Australia and the interconnecting forces of life, in ways of being, seeing and knowing. Her work responds to the realities in life by producing imagery that is healing – as art can help our emotions calm, so that we can reflect on ourselves and our past and present circumstances.
Since colonisation, Australian Indigenous Elders have struggled to gain strength and voice in how our landscapes have been managed. This includes the racial tensions experienced by Aboriginal people in making decisions key to our beliefs and ways of living. The image projected here firstly appears harmonious – a traversing of natural hues in splashes of blues/greens to illustrate the importance of water and the natural world. Yet the story line behind this serenity speaks about the struggle of Elders in maintaining control in healing the effects of colonisation. While all the fish swim in unison – one fish struggles against the rhythmical forces trying to fight against the current to give voice to a nation of people struggling with inequity and loss of freedoms. She is our Elder, she continues against the odds.
The mythology associated with the owl concerns its supernatural powers that have been attributed to this iconic bird of the night. The owl is believed to guard and warn against illness. Bubuk the owl is a much loved bird of Aboriginal people, it is a messenger from the spirit world – dedicated to helping people and protecting the night skies.
The Dhaurg name for the Hawkesburry River is called Dyarubbin. It has an important history, ecology and culture to the Dharug people. This painting highlights the tidal systems in the river – showing places where to fish, where to seek shelter and how the water flows. Each swirl offers knowledge of the depth and dimensions of place – with some places calm while others build in energy. The Dyarubbin River is a place to find fish and other food resources. Sadly it is now polluted and its richness needs to be restored.
Indigenous theories of the human senses consist of the external senses, which include seeing (vision), hearing (audition), tasting (gustation), smelling (olfaction), and touching (somatosensorial). The internal senses comprise of intuitive being (“oolgna”) and imaginative knowing (“ngara”). While there is a loss within English translation, oolgna is interpreted as felt gut sensations—a natural bodily alertness that generates deep, emotionally felt insight. Ngara refers to the imaginary, an ability to observe through a sense of curiosity that is deeply grounded within memory and dreams. These seven senses combined are perceived as guides of the emotional unconscious and are consciously felt vibrations that perpetrate cognitive thinking. Hence, it is not the mind that drives creativity in practice but the deep connection we have with our body and the world around us.