Ancestral spirits
"...This animation is an approach to my extraordinary experience of staying for a week in Yorta Yorta country in northern Victoria to study and acknowledge ancient and contemporary Indigenous arts with Indigenous community.
I believe most of my knowledge on the art history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society has been only through media and books but I was so honoured to this time to learn from Indigenous people's knowledge themselves and make a closer relationship to this culture and comprehend that Aboriginal culture is a blend of contemporary and traditional belief and practices. Also knowing that Aboriginal art represents the strength of their culture in many ways by increasing the values of traditional knowledge, which forms the very basis of Indigenous art.
This animation is an expression of Indigenous people and their land through Dreamtine or Dreaming which represents the time when the Ancestral Spirits progressed over the land and created life and important physical geographical formations and sites. The Dreaming explains the origin of the universe and workings of nature, animals and humanity which is associate to the most important topic these days according to the climate crisis.
Having a right connection with nature is the most beneficial behaviour for the wellbeing of both humans and the natural world."
In 2019 Shirin was a student of Animation at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. The field trip on Yorta Yorta country was conducted by the university's Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, led by Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung artist and educator Tiriki Onus.
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2024 Sophie A creation story |
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2021 Ocean Dance Polar connections |
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2020 Black man White man Spirits |
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2020 Nature's brain Art as another way of knowing |
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2020 Patterns we make East coast Tasmania and Bruny Island |
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2020 Messages from Trees Past and present life and death |
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2020 Ancestral spirits The ancestors did not disappear |
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2019 Ephemeral Pedestrian Our interrelational living system |
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2015 Bunurong Nature in the dark |
