Zena Cumpston (Barkandji/Kurnu)
ngatji, 2024
linocut collage on Fabriano paper
AP
44 x 62 cm
$550
Ngatji are the two rainbow serpents who created our Barkandji/Barkindji Country. To me, they are under/visible - they still reside under and within our Barka, the lifeblood of the people. Sadly, they and the deep knowledge of Country and custodial responsibility they encode is invisible to most outside our culture. Ngatji are depicted here as a dollar sign - illuminating the ways in which water and Country has been commodified for short term gain and long term pain. Not just for those who belonged to these lands forever, but for those who have relentlessly ripped from it, the newly-arrived, self proclaimed 'A graders'. They are also shown with bubbling water - a strong signpost that Ngatji are near and can unleash great harm on those who fail to heed warnings. Some might call these horrors climate change. I have come to Broken Hill to visit my large extended family my entire life. For me, especially as I first saw it through the eyes of a small child, the slag heap has always been a looming, ominous and frightening presence. It ain't right to build such a gigantic monument to extraction, I knew, saw and felt that even as a little kid.