An ‘Artist in Residence’ program was run at Gawa Homeland.

Gawa is a place on Elcho Island which lies 550km east off the coast of Darwin in the Northern Territory (1.5 hour flight from Darwin). It is located at the southern end of the Wessel Island group in the East Arnhem region and is a very remote area.

Alie Kruize, a member of staff and a mosaic artist spent the month of May working on 2 large mosaic installations with students from Gawa Christian School and members of the local communities living in Gawa, Nanginburra and Ban’Thula.

The students all designed and created their own mosaic piece which later became part of the seven metre mural which is now displayed, fixed against the school library wall.

Three large panels were designed by local artists symbolizing the three homelands involved in the project. Many community members worked for several weeks completing the pieces which will be erected in the homeland.

Alie also made a new sign for the school.

It was wonderful to see traditional art created using a totally new medium. All involved thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating such beautiful pieces which will be on show for years to come.

The story was given to Alie by her daughter Salome Moes who lives and works in Gawa, as a reminder of her time there.

embedded by Embedded Video

Download Video