How does the traditional Aboriginal art of the Sunshine Coast differ from that of other regions of Australia?

Acclaimed Coast artist Lyndon Davis, a direct descendant of the local Kabi Kabi people, offers his interpretations at the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery during NAIDOC Week this week.

Lyndon researched the Sunshine Coast’s traditional art for his exhibition Djagan Yaman (mention on video at 2:30), which includes paintings, objects such as canoes, moving images and sound to communicate the importance of custodianship.

“I wanted to be true to my Country and my old people, to the arts they did here,” said the born-and-raised Sunshine Coast educator and cultural performer who examined artefacts such as painted shields at Cherbourg’s Ration Shed Museum.

He realised that bold geometric shapes and patterns were iconic to the Sunshine Coast.

“Shields, boomerangs, our body art, any of our possessions have those markings,” he said. “It’s like our ID card. It identifies us.”

Lyndon will give an artist talk at the Gallery on campus at Sippy Downs at 2pm tomorrow, Tuesday 5 July.

The USC Gallery also currently features an exhibition by cross-cultural artist Hayley Millar-Baker (Gunditjmara) that considers the human experiences of time, memory and place.

There we were all in one place is a series of black-and-white photos using historical reappropriation and citation, in tandem with digital editing and archival research, to affirm Aboriginal experience and culture.

Curated by Stella Rosa McDonald, it is a UTS Gallery and Art Collection Touring Exhibition. Both exhibitions finish on 6 August.

The theme of the 2022 NAIDOC Week from 3-10 July is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

It calls for a genuine commitment by all to support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative and cooperative reforms, and maintain the momentum for change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.