My image Sowurraw Pamay depicts a boy digging for wild yams. I lost my father when I was young so my mother brought us up. My older brother’s taught me the traditional men’s business like hunting and fishing, but I learnt all about gathering plants and their different types from my Mum. As I did this artwork I had a feeling like déjà vu of my mum, myself and two younger sisters one morning long ago.
We were walking along and Mum pointed out some leaves and said “This is sowurr – dig there”. There and then she taught us how to identify when the sowurr were ready to be harvested. We dug everywhere she pointed and soon we knew exactly what we were looking for. I was confused though because I thought we were going fishing but here we were digging all of these yams and our arms were getting sore. After we had a good pile Mum told us to leave half to collect later, but we had to carry the rest to the beach. By the time we caught fish it was late afternoon and we were starving, we hadn’t eaten all day. We made a fire and Mum roasted the yams and the fish, it was so good and gave us strength to head back. When we got home we roasted the rest of the yams and made fish soup for the family.
Laurie Nona 2024
Medium: Lino Cut Prints
Size: 1150 x 435 x 865
Catalogue No: 24-35
