MICHAEL ANNING | 'Gijar-Gundal (paint a pattern)' | Screen-print

Michael Boiyool Anning was born in Atherton in 1955 and currently lives in Ravenshoe. His traditional name of Boiyool was given to him by his Aunt – it is the word for a piece of lawyer cane cut specifically to stir a non-lethal quantity of poison into waterholes when hunting fish, and the name of a mythical being, half-human, half-eel, which traveled up rivers to significant sites in the Buluru (story time). He became interested in exploring his Aboriginal heritage at age 13 and in around 1990 Michael began to revive the making of traditional artifacts. After a few years of selling artifacts to tourists through retail outlets in Kuranda he began his own art practice in 1996. Stimulated by stories of the early days, he began investigating rainforest shield designs in museum collections and anthropological texts. Michael Anning is now recognised as the foremost Indigenous artist in Queensland to rejuvenate the unique tradition of making rainforest shields and swords.

Presented in ochre colours. Purple being derived from iron ore outside of the rainforest

MICHAEL ANNING | 'Gijar-Gundal (Paint a Pattern)' | Screen-print | Paper size: 38 x 28 cm 

Details: Edition of 30 / 2008