Artist: Dr Deanne Gilson

Curator: Lisa Warrener, Global Art Projects

Client: Commissioned by Metro Tunnel Creative Program, 2023

About the artwork

“This artwork is based on original paintings in ochre, charcoal, 22 carat gold

leaf and acrylic on canvas.

The dilly bags and baskets are drawn from the South-eastern collection of

artefacts held within the Melbourne Museum, and gifts from family and friends.

They reclaim back our knowledge, traditional business and practice, re-enriching

our lives with culture, Dja (Country) and connection through sharing once again.

I have included Indigenous plants that highlight their uses from healing plants to

bush tucker, artefacts, our Kulin creation stories, and connection to Dja.”

About the artist

Dr. Deanne Gilson is a proud Wadawurrung woman and an award-winning

visual artist who lives and creates from her ancestral home of Ballarat in

Victoria. Her multidisciplinary art practice interrogates the colonial disruption of

her family and explores ways in which contemporary art can create a platform

towards healing, acceptance and re-claiming back cultural identity, often

drawing upon traditional knowledges of her ancestors.

She recently completed her PhD at Deakin University, looking at

defining Aboriginal women’s business through contemporary art.

Instagram @deannegilson