PAUL BONG | 'Leaves of scrub-tree' | Mezzotint print

“These are the first mezzotint prints I have done. I work from my own studio on the main street of Innisfail and now do all my printing myself.

Paul Bong (Bindur Bullin) is a Yidinji Man whose family is from the Russel River region south of Cairns.

“I’m named after a young warrior and I think that’s probably why I’m drawn to representing the shields of our rainforest people.

I learnt about our culture and traditional ways from my Great Grandmother. Both my grandparents were great tribal leaders.
When a young man was to be initiated, he’d get a blank timber shield, carved from the buttress of a g tree and he’d paint his totem on it. That shield became one of his most important possessions and the design would identify him.

He’d always put the stings of the scorpion in there to remind him of the pain and agony of his initiation into a man.”

Paul Bong’s carved and painted rainforest shields can be seen at Brisbane’s International Airport, he has ‘Yidinji Designs’ on Glass for Air New Zealand in Los Angeles and his work has been exhibited throughout Australia, Germany and the United States.

More recently his work was selected for the National Museum of Australia’s major exhibition Encounters alongside 151 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artefacts in the British Museum collection.

He is now the first Yidinji artist to be working with glass.

PAUL BONG | 'Leaves of scrub-tree' | Mezzotint | 2019 | Edition of 50