Zart Classroom Borders - Indigenous Designs

Zart Classroom Borders - Indigenous Designs pkt of 12

Classroom Borders Indigenous Designs create eye-catching class and whole school displays that will engage student learning and interest.

Use on pin and notice boards, whiteboards, windows and doors.

• This pack of 12 includes two unique and colourful designs:Tribal Country and Songlines to Country Designed by Russell Yilamara Brown, who’s Indigenous heritage stems from the Garawa and Mara tribes of South-East Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt.
• These borders celebrate identity, ancestral country, and connection to country.

Artist Biography – Russell Yilamara Brown

Russell Yilamara Brown was born in Hornsby, New South Wales in 1983, his Indigenous heritage is from the Garawa and Mara tribes of South-East Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt. His family was removed from their Country and placed into the Emerald River Mission on Groote Eylandt, where his grandmother was born. They were later relocated by the missionaries to Sydney due to World War II, where Russell grew up. Russell returned to his grandmother’s Country to live when he was in his early 30’s to reconnect.

Yilamara was the name given to Russell by his Elders. Yilamara is a native orchid, its stem was used for painting and its sap was used to bind the natural ochres together before painting on barks and implements.

Russell began exploring his artistic skills in his mid-twenties and has further refined his traditional style and has developed a contemporary representation.

He is a skilled painter, sculptor and is beginning to explore digital artwork and other mediums. He is a strong advocate for the self-determination of Aboriginal peoples.

Tribal Country

This artwork is about our ancestral Country. Country sustains life and is connected to all our being, it supports us physically, emotionally, spiritually and culturally. It is where we create, sing, dance, celebrate and commemorate. Country is the rivers, the mountains, the waterholes, the plains, the beaches, the desert and the sky. First Nations peoples have cared for this Country for tens of thousands of years and we all must continue to do so to ensure it passed to our future generations. We need to acknowledge and reconcile together. Country is vital to our culture and identity; it is our Mother and where we belong.

Songlines to Country

This artwork shows journey lines, meeting places and patterns that represent the Songlines that connect us together and to Country. It is our dreaming, our Lore, our language, our stories and our knowledge. We are all spiritually and culturally connected to Country, it is intrinsic to our being and identity and important for our physical and emotional health and wellbeing. It is where we belong. It is where and how we are educated through story and song, by our Elders and ancestors.

The Collection

The Country Connections collection represents all the elements which make up Country - the land, waters, sky, trees and animals. It also symbolises the connections we share with our community, friends and family. In celebration of our First Nations people and children, this collection was designed to help us learn, understand, appreciate and respect the cultural traditions and knowledge that has been passed down for thousands of years.

It is important to note that the symbols and stories shared are unique to Daisy Hill and her own interpretations and do not represent all First Nations people. All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural groups have different perspectives, interpretations and understandings of stories and knowledge passed down to them.

About the Artist

Daisy Hill is an Aboriginal artist and proud descendant of the Muruwari people from NW NSW, currently living on Yugambeh Country (Gold Coast). Daisy's art style can be described as modern and contemporary. She paints intuitively, the same way her ancestors did. Daisy feels an overwhelming connectedness to her thoughts, feelings and spirit when she paints. She describes the painting process as being deeply spiritual and meditative. Daisy has a passion to tell stories and strives to keep the traditions of her people alive. “It is a way for me to feel connected to the Motherland - the trees, water, sand, sun, earth and animals. I paint to convey the beauty I see in all things and to express my gratitude and acknowledge the Country I am walking, living and breathing. I feel so grateful that people want to invest in me and my culture,” says Daisy.