Konstantina
Raining on Eora (Guringai) - KONKK0073
| Size: H-152 X W-102 cm. |
| Medium: Acrylic and Ochre on Canvas |
| SOLD |
| Product No: KONKK0073 |
She is Guringai / Gai-mariagal
She is confused.
She has been given too many names, by too many people not of her kin.
She is sister / brother to the Dharug.
She is the northern beaches, she is breath-taking, beautiful and she is subversive.
Upon sitting with Country north of Cammeraygal land and west to the Darkinjung, I became curious with understanding how much C
ulture remains here. The northern beaches whilst firmly established and bustling hubs of human and built environmental activity - they are still in many ways quite unblemished in parts. This curiosity led me to discover Dennis Foley a Gai-Mariagal man, author, and historian.
"What the Colonists never knew, and still don't - and this is extremely important - is that we continue to practise our culture even though our numbers are fewer in each generation. Until about 1900, men were still scarified. In 1930-40 the last law with scarification practiced in ceremony, at Belrose and at Wheeler Heights... In the 1960's women continued to regularly make their pilgrimage to the sea and to fresh water for ceremony, and boys like me were still being trained." (Foley & Read, 2021, What The Colonists Never Knew).
This extract among others confirms my many suspicions that Cultural Practice did not ever cease, not here on the Guringai / Gai-mariagal part of Country and indeed not anywhere else either. It just went underground.