An Indigenous artwork representing people coming together and connecting through place — the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) in Boorloo (Perth) — has been unveiled at The University of Western Australia.
Created by student Kyeesha Bonney, a Wongi Noongar woman with a lineage that intertwines with Ngadju and Yilka groups, the cultural expression is part of a beautiful water-wise garden at UWA’s residential college University Hall.
Kyeesha said it was heartwarming to be chosen to create something with an Indigenous focus and she also felt a sense of pride to be asked as an artist.
She was drawn to the river when she thought about Unihall, but it wasn’t until she started creating the artwork that the story behind the cultural expression started to take shape.
“There are the water people and desert people, but then there’s also this mix between bush and land,” Kyeesha said.
“It represents our ancestors and our families, but also the different nationalities coming from all over the world to this place.”
The Bachelor of Arts student thinks it is important to showcase all people and hopes everyone who visits the cultural expression feels a connection to place.
“I would hate for people be on this land, be on our country and not get a connection,” she said.
“Once you feel that connection to land, it’s completely different and for a non-Indigenous person to feel that connection to land, or even a place or a person, it’s a beautiful thing that everybody deserves to experience.
“I hope everybody takes place; a piece of land, with them on to their next journey.”
Kyeesha is grateful she had Njaki-Njaki man Dougie Nelson, from UWA Law School, and Noongar artist and statesperson Dr Richard Walley OAM to guide her through the process.
Mr Nelson, a Unihall alumnus, designed an acknowledgement to Country plaque that sits alongside the cultural expression and also recognises the students who have come to Unihall from around the globe.
“I wanted to acknowledge the footprints of those who came before and those who will come after,” Mr Nelson said.
“We are all storytellers, and I wanted to recognise the diversity, songs and stories that add to the spirit and connection of this place.”