Description

See Karen Casey’s website for more information about her work

Story

Contemporary Aboriginal women are able to recreate their ‘Dreaming’ (ancestral creation stories) through their art. Some of their Dreaming stories were not able to be passed on to them from their elders because of the cruel actions of past government separating children from their parents (the ‘stolen generation’). This, however, has not deterred Aboriginal people from continuing to search for their cultural heritage, and people are revealing through their artworks that their search is successful. The artist’s work also reveals that the land and the spirits that dwell within are always able to communicate to those who are willing to listen, no matter which country in the world they may be in.

First Nations Fertility prints

This is one of a range of 14 limited edition screen-prints on paper exclusively available through Songlines. The prints have not been exhibited or offered for sale since 1999, the year they were created by eight Indigenous Australian women artists. Images of the prints were used as slides by Fay Nelson, then Director Aboriginal Arts Board, Australia Council, in her keynote address at the landmark Sydney IVF Fertility Conference held at Darling Harbour Conference Centre.

The prints and Dr Nelson’s essay ‘Aboriginal Fertility’ are documented in the conference proceedings published as Towards Reproductive Certainty – Fertility and Genetics beyond 1999 edited by Robert Jansen and David Mortimer with the assistance of Karen Coote, published by The Parthenon Publishing Group.

Provenance: Karen Coote (who commissioned the Fertility Prints from participating artists)