Paul Bong
PAUL BONG | 'Where is our culture?' | 2019 | Mezzotint print
PAUL BONG | 'Where is our culture?' | 2019 | Mezzotint print
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Born: 1963
Language: Yidiny
Region: Yidinji
Paul Bong (aka Bindur Bullin), is a descendant of the Yidinji tribe who occupied the fertile rainforest lands from Cairns in the north to Babinda in the south and west into the Atherton Tablelands as far as Kairi. His ancestral history is rooted in this region. Bong's great-grandparents were both tribal elders, when all the lands were Yidinji. His father, George, also knew the traditional ways of living. He spoke the Yidinji language (Yidiny), though he wasn’t allowed to speak it when he went to school. George was forced to reject the traditional ways and to assimilate into white society. This broke the continuity of Bong's culture, language and heritage from being passed down through the generations.
Bong grew up around the Yattee area near Wright Creek in Far North Queensland. He is driven to regain the stories and culture that was lost to European settlement and to share what was lost through his work. His grandmother, who spoke Yidiny, taught Bong stories and legends about the rainforest – its bush food, animals, young warriors and special places such as Babinda Boulders and the Gordonvale Pyramid. These stories are the inspiration for many of his works. Bong incorporates traditional designs with modern techniques with each design having its own spiritual meaning.
Courtesy of the Artist
Paul Bong | 'Where is our culture', 2019, mezzotint, Edition of 50
“These are the rst mezzotint prints I have done. I work from my own studio on the main street of Innisfail and now do all my printing myself.
Mezzotints are different to etchings and they take a very long time to make the image on the surface of the metal plate. I bought a tool and I use that to rock back and forth and scrape and burnish the copper or zine plate to get the different tones, the light and dark areas.
These are my representations of Yidinji Shields, my people’s traditional art and I’m looking at the shield and using it to say different things about our history and contemporary culture today.
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 rst Yidinji artist to be working with glass.
