The Two Tribes Artwork & Artist Kim Healey

Kim Healey is a descendant of the Bundjulung and Gumbayngiirr nations and Djunbun (Platypus) Clan, original custodians of the Washpool at Lionsville in northern NSW. She works out of a studio in the Clarence Valley, creating and telling her stories along the mighty Clarence River. Kim strives to capture Country and utilise her voice through her work, to interpret the world around her.

Kim says: “By using a layered system that is contemporary, I feel a great peace in my soul while still echoing a sense of connection to all things in their natural state. When I start creating a piece that is unknown to me, it then reveals itself to me and I look back at it thinking ‘There you are’. I create in mediums such as metal sculpture, works on canvas, paper, photography, skin art, pyrographics, and various other printing techniques.”

This work captures Kim Healey’s connection to Country. It speaks of the Bundjulung and Gumbayngiirr nations which were created by the Yuladarah, the creator of rivers, boundaries and tribal land. This is the Clarence River boundary with Susan Island in the middle of these two tribes which is a birthing place. Using a sgraffito technique, scribing in the sandy medium is a mapping system of Country.