Shirley Macnamara life outdoors Mt Isa in North West Queensland where she runs a thriving cattle property with her son, and is also immersed in her family’s cultural and political investigate.
In 2013 Macnamara began to make skullcaps, reminiscent of a customary funerary observe for some Aboriginal gals wherever their heads were being plastered with white clay or burnt gypsum to form a cap, masking their hair completely. The putting on of this cap could increase for some time soon after a dying, with successive coatings generating it weighty and uncomfortable for the widow or female relative of the deceased.
In Skullcap 2013 (illustrated), Macnamara doesn’t try to imitate the caps located in museum collections and illustrations, instead, she intends to honour Aboriginal gentlemen who represented Australia in two planet wars, never to return to their liked ones. She hopes to make certain that Aboriginal troopers are no longer neglected. Skullcap is manufactured from prosperous, red ochre and is included with emu feathers, which allude to all those used to adorn Australian soldiers’ uniform hats (illustrated).
Shirley Macnamara ‘Skullcap’
Light-weight Horse slouch hat with emu plume
Acknowledgment of Nation
The Queensland Artwork Gallery | Gallery of Present day Art acknowledges the Conventional Entrepreneurs of the land on which the Gallery stands in Brisbane. We pay back regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and existing and, in the spirit of reconciliation, accept the enormous inventive contribution To start with Australians make to the art and culture of this region.
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Highlighted impression element: Shirley Macnamara Skullcap 2013
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