Reconciliation matters to us!
Artwork Narrative
This artwork – ‘Together We Learn’ – by Elizabeth Yanyi Close (Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara) speaks to many things. It reflects landscape in it’s palette of land and weather; and through that; the importance of acknowledging Country – but also about the place for and your respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, learning and being. It uses a ‘creek’ of sorts to speak to the concept of journey – ie water trickling through. That Journey can take on many forms – be that in terms of learning but in life and shaping young people. The meeting places beneath and above are informed by fostering a sense of community – they depict diversity through the iconography around the concircular shapes above and below informed by community in schools, friends, families etc.
Elizabeth Yanyi Close was a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman with strong connections to the Pukatja and Amata communities in the APY Lands of Central Australia. An established contemporary First Nations artist, Elizabeth spent more than 18 years developing a rich and diverse creative practice that reflected both her personal connection to Country and the broader importance of connection to place, story and community. Elizabeth worked across a range of mediums including painting, large scale public art and digital media, and became widely recognised for her striking murals and collaborative artworks displayed across Australia. Her work carried story, culture and deep meaning, leaving a lasting legacy through the spaces and communities it continues to touch.
