Informit is thrilled to have commissioned an artwork, Birrarung biik, by Wurundjeri artist Lewis Wandin-Bursill to acknowledge that Informit is based in Naarm (Melbourne) on the lands and waters of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.
Wandin-Bursill describes Birrarung biik: “I carved the flowing lines in the manna gum bark to represent water flowing over the land and the journey of Birrarung (the Yarra River).”
Living on Country in Healesville, not far from the source of Birrarung, Wandin-Bursill uses wood carving and wood burning techniques referencing the art of his ancestor, William Barak, the Ngurungaeta (leader) of the Wurundjeri people at the time of colonisation and a renowned artist.
Wandin-Bursill says: “The inspiration for this carving has been drawn from my kinship with William Barak and to the manna gums sacred to my culture.”
“This design brings carving and landscape together into a powerful representation of Culture and Country.”
For this artwork Wandin-Bursill first created the carving in manna gum bark, and then derived a digital design that retains the hand-carved shapes as well as some of the existing pattern of the bark itself.
We at Informit, are very pleased with the result!
Artist Statement
My name is Lewis Wandin-Bursill and I am a proud young Wurundjeri artist of the Woi-wurrung language group. I have always lived on Country in Healesville.
My wood-carving and wood-burning (pyrography) designs reference my relationship with my four-times great Uncle, William Barak, exploring symmetry and the natural lines of nature. William Barak, carved similar designs into shields at Coranderrk, and which are now held in major institutions in Australia.
My recent works have been informed by my interest in the traditional ways of finding food and the implements used in that pursuit. Wood-carving has always been an integral part of Aboriginal culture and I believe I have been gifted the knowledge of my Ancestors. I particularly enjoy carving dagan (clubs), bark sheets and clapsticks, utilising manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), which is a sacred ancestral being for Wurundjeri people and a significant tree in the landscape around Healesville where I live.
I carved the flowing lines in the manna gum bark to represent water flowing over the land and the journey of Birrarrung (the Yarra River). The lines also reflect the contours of Wurundjeri Country and my relationship to Country as my home and especially the country around Healesville, not far from Birrarung’s headwaters.
While I was carving I felt the bark telling its story of the growth of the tree, the growth of our ancient manna gums reflected in their rings of growth, and the presence of this amazing tree going back into deep time and always intertwined with Wurundjeri people.
Wurun means manna gum (we are the manna gum people) and djeri is the grub that lives in the manna gum. My being, as a freshwater and manna gum man brings all these elements together within me and through me.
This design brings carving and landscape together into a powerful representation of Culture and Country. The inspiration for this carving has been drawn from my kinship with William Barak and to the manna gums sacred to my culture. For me, Barak’s legacy is through the work he did caring for and representing his community, and his custodianship of Wurundjeri lands.
