DAVID 'MEGGS' HOOKE
DAVID 'MEGGS' HOOKE
(see photos below)
The Nowa Nowa Underpass is a collaborative mural I created with Gunaikurnai artist Alice Pepper as part of the ongoing ‘Under the Surface’ project, curated by The Social Crew. This mural explores the Gunaikurnai people & tradition, people and a reflects the landscape of East Gippsland. Covering entrances, walls and ceiling of the 35m tunnel, 330+ m of paint coverage.
The artwork organically evolved through prior & on-site sharing of skills and stories and I’m super proud of the effort, challenge and beautifully intertwining result! The most rewarding experience was guiding Alice in the process of scaling up her artwork which she embraced like a boss and learning of her connection to country.
The South entry features a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony with a Gunaikurnai woman and man wearing possum skins cloak and young boy playing clapsticks. As the smoke flows through the tunnel it connects you to feathers of Borun the Pelican & Tuk the Musk Duck, the mother & father creators of the Gunaikurnai people.
Further into the tunnel the artwork leads you through colours representing land and sky and symbols of meeting places, the surrounding hills and hands on the rocks representing ancestors that have been here before for many of thousands of years.
The artwork then leads into colours representing the water in Nowa Nowa where salt water meets the fresh water flowing down from the mountains. Ancestors are represented with the traditional fishing baskets, woven from the Lamandra plant that is featured on the South Entrance opposite weaving patterns.
Directly across are the feathers representing Djeetgung & Yeerung the superb fairy & emu wrens the male & female Totems of the Gunaikurnai people. (When we painted the tunnel Djeetgung visited everyday coming in close to us checking on us).
Thanks again to all involved @thesocialcrew, @imclarebrady for the invaluable assist, @nicasa for the photos. https://www.thesocialcrewevents.com/projects#/underthesurface/