Lindsay Harris is a Nyoongar artist with a long-standing interest in finding ways of representing his lands.
“I see through my eyes, which invoke memories of Kwolyin in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia and the surrounding districts where I once lived. As a Nyoongar, I have and I share in a special relationship to the country of my forebears. Overarching this relationship is the respect for my country and my involvement in its care and representation.”
When making his art, Lindsay introduces memories and images of granite rocks, tracks and salt lakes. The bold brush strokes in his paintings hide an underlying current of past tensions experienced by his people and their lands. Using resin, he says, gives him a feeling of marking and being connected to the land.
“I like to compare the markings I make to the tracks and paths that have criss-crossed my land since ancient times. I feel that my art has to give a sense of intimacy and connection to my boodja (Land).”
Through his painting, Lindsay invites people to go on a journey to his lands, and see and understand it as he sees it. He endeavours to help people make sense of the aesthetics of the land, through pigments, clay and natural resins of what is contained in his beloved ‘jam tree country’.
