The work I'm doing is all based on our ceremonial plates that we use and the stories that have been passed down, and the motifs and the designs or patterns that have been passed down to myself and my brothers. They originally are presented on what we call riji (pearl shell) which are etched mother of pearl ceremonial plates that the men wear, and these ones have been passed down to our brothers.
They're public ones, so they're not secret, sacred ceremonial plates. They're my inspiration, and I guess they're what drives me to present it. It's such an ancient language and an ancient style and that's what I'm trying to uncover or reveal. They're specific sort of designs or patterns that relate to a particular ceremony.
My whole reason, I guess, for doing the work I'm doing now, these large scale, metal sculptural works, is just because I wanted to sort of show a whole different language and a whole different way of seeing and a whole different way of looking at things. It's such an ancient language anyway, that not a lot of people are familiar with.
This is something I've always known I was going to do. I didn't really know what material I was going to use or anything, but I was going to try and present riji sort of all our design and our way of seeing things on a big scale.
Part of it was to just go well, here, hey look at this. To not say look at how amazing this is or anything, but just go, okay, that's a whole different way of seeing something. That's why I'm doing it now, you know, and like the whole thing with working in metal now, was just something. I like the whole idea, I guess, of metal. It's strength and everything, but I also like the fact that it does erode over years and become something else. It doesn't mean that thing is gone, it's just not in that physical form anymore.
