Three stunning interrelated Aboriginal dot paintings, representing our Diocesan Regions and commissioned by the Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, are travelling individually around our Diocese and are being displayed as a reminder of our Christian call to Reconciliation. Each artwork represents a geographical faith Region of our Diocesan community – the Northern, Southern and Western Regions – and joins together as one united piece, with the Pacific Ocean bordering the joint work’s right-hand side.
These three artworks tie in directly with the Diocesan RAP and will travel around our community as a reminder of our Christian call to Reconciliation. At key Diocesan events the three paintings will come together as a symbol of ‘Being Together’ and that we are one Church.
The dot paintings were created by talented emerging artist Stevie O’Chin, who belongs to the Kabi Kabi and Koa peoples on her father’s side and the Yuin people on her mother’s side. Stevie O’Chin said that the intricate circles in each artwork represent our Diocese’s Marks of Mission and share common motifs. “Each circle has U shapes that surround the symbols – these symbolise people gathering together to worship, and the blue dotted rings around each symbol in the circles mark the spiritual healing power of God,” Ms O’Chin said. “The seven symbols painted within circles in the tri-Regional landscape represent the seven Marks of Mission of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland.” Dot painting is an ancient and deeply symbolic practice of the world’s oldest continuously living culture and started with sand, soil, and body ‘canvases’.
Now one of the most internationally recognised Aboriginal art forms, First Nations artists commenced dot painting on framed stretched canvases in the 1970s. Ms O’Chin said, that she “carries on a family legacy of Aboriginal dot painting. My paintings are inspired by my surroundings and stories told to me by my parents and family Elders.” Executive Director of Parishes and other Mission Agencies Commission, and RAP Working Group member Dr Stephen Harrison said, “that the three artworks support the Diocesan RAP and symbolise our Diocesan community’s collective commitment to Reconciliation.