Artist:
Jonathan Jones
Uncle Stan Grant Senior often reminds me that language is in Country, and so to learn my language is to learn my Country. Following his guidance I find myself scratching away at the surface of things to reveal what’s underneath, awakening old knowledge and seeing what’s always been there. Understanding our Country in this way is to understand that Aboriginality is eternal, that the landscape retains knowledge. Wiradjuri people and Wiradjuri history didn’t go away with white invasion and colonisation. Despite the odds, the Country still holds cultural knowledge and will continue to teach us. Wiradjuri knowledge is in Country—in the clouds and rivers, in the birds and animals, in the roads and the buildings. It’s visible to those who know how to look in the very fabric of our Country.
Giving structure to our cultural language is murruwaygu (cultural design), witnessed in Wiradjuri Country, possessions and knowledge. Murruwaygu is most visible in carved objects such as the giran giran (broad shield), bundi (club), bargan (boomerang) and badhang (possum-skin cloak), all of which are important to Wiradjuri. While I work with found and repurposed everyday materials, including fluorescent lights, thread and paper, and historical images, murruwaygu and the knowledge embedded within Country informs and shapes my work. The repeating diamonds, chevrons and radiating lines that make up the complex network of murruwaygu hold deep ancestral knowledge waiting to inspire the next generation.
Photo: Peter Greig
Jonathan Jones
(Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi peoples)
[EXHIBITION COPY] video channel 1; dhawin-dyuray (axe-having) 2015
Courtesy of the artist.
Jonathan Jones
(Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi peoples)
nguram-bang-dyuray (country-having) 2017
Purchased 2017 in recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum
Search for works by this artist in the national collection.
