KONSTANTINA

Language Funnels - Koori - South West NSW & VIC , 2024

Art : Aboriginal
Origine : Byron Bay
Dimensions : 90 x 60 cm
Medium : Acrylic on canvas
Price : Vendue/ Sold
N° : 4598

Konstantina, whose real name is Kate Constantine, is a contemporary Aboriginal artist descended from the Gadigal people. Her work tells the true story of her people. She is passionate about her language, culture and history, much of which has been lost since colonisation. She is actively involved in revitalising the Gadigal language, working with the University of Sydney, for example, to revive the original language of the Eora Nation. She reimagines the traditions of her people's painters and offers a modern narrative that enables all Australians to better understand that Aborigines are an integral part of the Australian fabric.

With the Mapping Mobs (Language maps) series, Konstantina highlights the complexity of language groups in Australia, which she maps in the form of overlapping or intertwining dotted lines of colour.

‘Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders belong to numerous kinship groups. It is this complex kinship system, governed by thousands of years of family interactions, marriages, protocols and customs, that allows us to understand where we are in the matrix. The group to which you belong also dictates your understanding of the language (or languages), with many people speaking five or six languages before English. It is this tangled beauty of ancestry, history and shared stories that these group maps depict by region within our great and beautiful Ngura.’

Here, Konstantina represents the richness of the Koori, made up of several different Aboriginal peoples from South-East Australia: Wurundjeri, Dantgurt, Bunurong, Cummeragunja, Framlingham and Coranderrk.