Traversing Three Realms: The physical, natural and spiritual showcases new relief-prints by Injinoo artist, Teho Ropeyarn, including his outstanding large-scale work, Athumu Paypa Adthinhuunamu (my birth certificate) created for the 23rd Biennale of Sydney earlier in 2022.
Coinciding with the launch of the 2022 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, this exhibition at NorthSite Contemporary Arts highlights the complexity and diversity of printmaking from a Far North Queensland First Nations artist like Teho Ropeyarn.
“Injinoo (and all Aboriginal) people are at one with the land, sea and sky. We traverse the physical, the natural and the spiritual realms. My work for the biennale is a visual depiction of this philosophy – explaining how the land becomes the human, the human becomes the animal, the animal becomes the land, the land becomes the spirit, and the spirit becomes a device linking these elements. The land will only listen to its people. Aboriginal connection to Country is not just belonging. It is a spiritually magnetic system that connects to all other human and natural elements. You cannot remove the people from the land, which finds its way. The land will flourish when the system is reconnected, and Aboriginal people defend this system.”” – Teho Ropeyarn.