Schoolboys display Kimberley memories

Artworks of 23 Perth high school boys, predominantly from the Kimberley, have been displayed in a NAIDOC exhibition which will run until August.

Original artwork by Indigenous Student Program students’ at Christ Church Grammar Schoolwere featured in the Indigenous Student Art Exhibition, titled Young Dreamings, after this year’s NAIDOC Week theme.

The exhibition was opened by Janet Holmes à Court during NAIDOC week and featured paintings inspired by the boys’ homeland.

The paintings were created in a series of recent after school workshops. Christ Church senior art teacher Gisela Züchner-Mogall, who led the project together with the school’s indigenous program cocoordinator Jamie Foster, said seeds were sown for the paintings during the April school holidays.

“The boys were encouraged to talk to family and friends about the stories and symbolism relating to their tribes and country,” Ms Züchner-Mogall said.

A description of the artwork, together with a map of Aboriginal Australia showing the boys’ tribes and where they are from, accompanies each painting.

Twelve-year-old Rahamat Bin Bakar’s brightly coloured painting of a “battle with a mulloway” reflects his love of fishing.

“Since I have been in Perth, I have not caught anything in the Swan River except blowies,” Rahamat said.

Joseph Pedley, 13, from Wyndham, and Caiden Curtin, 14, from Kununurra, chose more traditional colours for their paintings.

The exhibition runs until Friday, August 10 in the Old Boys’ Gallery, at Christ Church Grammar School, in Perth western suburb Claremont.