Wun-ga-li Ngurrambaa Winanga-li utilises motifs based on Gamilaraay carved trees and incorporates weaving and embroidery techniques, drawing attention to the cultural practices of Taylor Worley’s female ancestors. Each work has been created in, and alongside significant waterways on country, reflecting Gamilaraay women’s responsibility to protect the waterways.
Artist – Debbie Taylor-Worley
As a Gamillaraay woman, who has lived, for the most part, a colonised life, my project is about decolonising my own mind, beliefs and narratives, and going a step further, to reconnect to my spiritual roots. I’m treading a path to connect to my culture, my country and the spirituality of my ancestors, for I believe that Indigenous knowledges in ways of knowing, being and doing are in fact our planet’s only chance of survival. My art practice is a means of cementing that connection to country and culture.
My artmaking processes and materials are profoundly tied to connection to Mother Earth and Ancestors, ceremony and ritual, culture and community, and places and memory. It describes the trials and tribulations of navigating unfamiliar waters, the treading softly on the ground and resisting of greedy mis-use and destruction of the earth’s resources.
