Paint Martuwarra

This project is supported by the “Martuwarra-Fitzroy River Council (MFRC)”. Painting the Martuwarra is a project on the recognition that the living waters of rivers have deep cultural significance, relationships and obligations to care. It is also a matter of demapping and re-mapping Australia and decolonizing its rivers. It will be a pictorial statement of bioregional indigenous cultural sovereignty, producing statements about the love and connections between peoples and their rivers, waters and aquatic landscapes.

The central idea of Painting the Martuwarra is that traditional owners (i.e. indigenous river keepers) and their families come from the Martuwarra (Fitzroy) River in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Traditional owners will represent, through paintings and associated digital works, their sections of the rivers and their importance, while exploring their broader collective relationships with the rivers and streams. The artistic process will result in a cultural map of rivers that covers rivers, wetlands, watershed and peoples, presenting the river as an element of connection of cultural, spiritual and material importance. Painting the Martuwarra will enhance ongoing education and outreach activities to showcase the value of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River globally [1]Council as cultural guardians with a global ethical model of care to share and give voice to rivers on a global scale.

Painting the Martuwarra will produce many grand, bold and beautiful statements that foster the intertwined and complex relationships between rivers and their peoples. This will deepen the understanding of the broader community of the river system, our relationship with it, and the governance of water by the owners.