A southern right whale sculpture made from ghost nets and marine debris collected from beaches along the Nullarbor has been migrating through art galleries in Europe, showcasing the Mirning people’s seven sisters dreaming story.
Key points:
- A whale sculpture, called Jidirah, made by women from Ceduna and Yalata in 2014 using ghost nets depicts the Mirning people’s dreaming
- The sculpture was sold and exhibited overseas in Monaco and is now on display in Le Havre in France
- Ghost net art raises awareness of net pollution and showcases Indigenous art and songlines
The sculpture, called Jidirah, is on display in France after being part of an Aboriginal and Oceanic exhibition called Taba Naba, at the Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Jidirah was made as a Ceduna Arts and Culture Centre project involving women from Ceduna and Yalata in 2014 and Ghost Net Arts coordinator Sue Ryan.
They used material collected from beaches and also fishing industry waste nets dumped in refuse.
The finished artwork was exhibited in Adelaide and then sold in 2015 to an art gallery in Paris named Arts of Australia by Stefane Jacobs.
“He bought the whale, and about a year later we got word to say they are going to have this big exhibition in the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco,” former Ceduna Arts manager Pam Diment said.
“For the art centre, it’s been pretty amazing.”
Mirning artist Jo Lennon and her mother, Verna Lawrie, shared their Mirning stories for the artwork and named it Jidirah.
“My mother, Verna Lawrie, drew the shape of the whale on the ground,” Ms Lennon said.
“When we were doing the whale, my mother was telling the stories because my mother had her two other sisters, older sisters, there with her doing it too.”
Ms Lennon said she wanted to be kept informed of where Jidirah was on display.
“They need to include people like us into our own art,” Ms Lennon said.
Ms Diment said she represented Arts Ceduna at the exhibition opening in Monaco.
“It just blew them away really because of the vastness, the remoteness, the Indigenous people, the storyline and what was created, the end product,” Ms Diment said.
Jidirah has been bought by a philanthropist in Switzerland, under the Opale Foundation, and is on loan to the Museum of Natural History Le Havre in France.
“To me, that’s such great exposure for the area around here. It’s just fantastic for the art centre.”
Opale Foundation also bought a blue swimmer crab by Ceduna Art.
Ghost Nets Art project coordinator artist Sue Ryan said ghost net artwork educated the public about marine pollution and promoted Indigenous culture.
“It promotes the communities who make something really beautiful out of absolute rubbish,” Ms Ryan said.
She said it was a coup for Jidirah to be in the Opale collection.
University of West Brittany Anthropology co-director and freelance curator Géraldine Le Roux selected Jidirah for the Museum of Natural History Le Havre’s Australian exhibition.
She said Le Havre was an important port with a big community of fishers, some of whom recycled fishing gear.
Ms Le Roux said the French community appreciated the display and seeing how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities were diverse with “still strong heritages and cultures”.
Ms Diment hoped two more ghost net art pieces created in Ceduna could be sold overseas as well — a harlequin fish and an orca whale.
“It’s given great exposure for the Mirning people, the Head of the Bight, the whale season, anything with exposure brings in a lot of cultural stuff and their storyline to go with the whale, it just educates the world.”
The Jidirah project was funded by Alinytjara Wilurara Natural Resources Management (AWNRM), the Department of Environment and Water (DEW) and Arts Ceduna.
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