Artist statement

‘This artwork is based on original paintings in ochre, charcoal, 22 carat gold leaf and acrylic on canvas.

The dilly bags and baskets are drawn from the South-eastern collection of artefacts held within the Melbourne Museum, and gifts from family and friends. They reclaim back our knowledge, traditional business and practice, re-enriching our lives with culture, Dja (Country) and connection through sharing once again.

I have included Indigenous plants that highlight their uses from healing plants to bush tucker, artefacts, our Kulin creation stories, and connection to Dja.’

About the artist

Dr Deanne Gilson is a proud Wadawurrung woman and an award-winning visual artist who lives and creates from her ancestral home of Ballarat in Victoria. Her multidisciplinary art practice interrogates the colonial disruption of her family and explores ways in which contemporary art can create a platform towards healing, acceptance and re-claiming back cultural identity, often drawing upon traditional knowledges of her ancestors.

She recently completed her PhD at Deakin University, looking at defining Aboriginal women’s business through contemporary art.