Aboriginal Artwork
Aborginial Mural
The beautiful mural above was designed through a series of workshops run by our very clever Aboriginal Artist mum, Jess Plumb, with the students of St Mary's. The following blurb is an explanation from Jess about how the artworks were created and what they symbolise.
We began with a workshop on learning Aboriginal Symbols and how to tell stories through Aboriginal Art. Each student made their own story to help understand this process.
The Year 6 class of 2022 started us off and decided the theme should be the journey through primary school. Each class then built upon what that should look like and added elements to the draft painting.
We talked about how a meeting place is a place where people come together and share stories, learn and socialise and this is why we chose the meeting place symbol to represent each class from Kindergarten to Year 6.
The Aboriginal symbol for people was used to represent the students on the outside and one in each centre to represent the teacher.
The paths that connect each class represent the travel as you move through each year in primary school. The dots that surround these represent all the past students who have followed the same path.
The handprints represent the Aboriginal students that feel connection in their cultural identity and a sense of pride and empowerment to see their Culture explored and encouraged at school together with their peers.
Each class spent some time with me painting the mural, with the students free to use the colours of their choice, and taking ownership of it and inspiring creativity and a sense of belonging while learning about Aboriginal Culture as we painted.
This stunning mural will be hung in a place where it can be admired by all.
