Ngayahdjil · Gannga (23)

Ngayahdjil · Gannga

Brad Turner, Bundjalung Contemporary Indigenous Artist

Every work in this collection starts from the ground up.

The first layer is Country: natural tones and textures of earth, sand, stone and water. This is ngayahdjil, a Bundjalung word that means “belonging to me”. It’s the foundation, the part that was always there and always his, even in the years before Brad knew how to name it.

Colour is built on that ground, one layer at a time. Each layer is a step toward culture, toward kin and toward community, and each sits on the one before it. Brad doesn’t paint over the foundation. He builds on it until the earth tones glow through vibrant colour. This is gannga, hope.

Together, the two words tell the story of the collection. Belonging is the ground you stand on, and hope is what grows from it. They also work in the other direction: every layer of hope deepens the sense of belonging underneath. The paintings show belonging as something you return to, then build on, and keep building, rather than something you’re simply handed.

The belonging runs outward too: to Brad himself, to his culture, to his family and to you. When a work leaves the fair, it carries every one of those layers into a new home. The person who takes it home becomes part of the story, connected by a shared belief that we belong.

• Size: 76cm x 50.5cm 
• Original Artwork (Unframed)