Sugarbags & Waterholes by Lucy Ward

Artist Statement: Hello. Good to see you. I was born in Ngarangarri country that is now part of Beverley Springs Station. Ngarangarri is the honey dream ngara minbinya 'honey is good tucker'. Ward paints the Sugarbags or bush honey pods. These Sugarbag are Ward's personal totem and connect her to her country of birth. Ward's sugarbags are depicted as irregularly shaped squares decorated with an array of brightly coloured dots. As a simultaneous symbol of the physical spatial and personal these seemingly abstract shapes create a complex metaphor for identity and country. They become part of a sacred and personal geography. Each mark on the canvas becomes like a fingerprint.