dhuma nhanha woka biganga

(wise woman of the land possum skin cloak)

In the artist’s words:

Across the wetlands, possum skin cloaks were worn by traditional Yorta Yorta people from infancy to old people, as today.

The designs represent cultural knowledge passed from one generation to the next – stories based deeply on spiritual and cultural connection to country, community, sky, water, wildlife in realms far above and below the surface.

The light within the interior of the possum skin cloak symbolises this strong bond Yorta Yorta people feel from the souls of our feet expanding deep into the sky where stories of our creation ancestors have informed our identity and relationships to our clan, totems, community and landscape.

The possum cloak is dedicated to ‘mother creator and spirit’ who has fed and guided my people as we walk our ancestor’s paths upon this woka (land) of the wetlands.