your spirit is your true shield
Patrick Ikaringanyi Brady
From a young age, Patrick Ferguson watched his grandmother make boomerangs. His childhood was filled with traditional knowledge and customs passed on by his grandmother and mother. Born in Broken Hill, NSW and growing up in a remote community called Tibooburra, this upbringing instilled cultural connection to land, spirit and respect for the resources that were abundant through his hunting and gathering. Patricks grandfather was a Western Aranda man from Hermannsburg mission with connection to the Pitjantjatjarra lands and his grandmother, an Adnymathanha women from Flinders ranges in South Australia and up to the north of Coopers Creek, Yawarrawarraka.
His father left his mum before he could walk, and he was raised by his mother and grandmother and grew up in a small town in far west NSW called Tibooburra. After losing his mother to a heart attack when he was 11 years old his aunty sent him to boarding school in Forbes NSW.
In 2004 Patrick was honoured to participate in ceremony, transitioning through initiation to become a “Wati man”. This was undertaken with his family and tribal groups of the Anangu Pitantjatjarra Yankunytatjara lands. Patrick spent months in initiation, “although it is forbidden to speak about the formalities of ceremony, one thing was undeniable was my belonging and urge to create Aboriginal artifacts with Punu”.
Punu (wood) carving is the longest surviving resource known to man and has been a valuable product for Indigenous Australians since the dreamtime. Predominately Patrick carves Punu that are from Mulga and Red Gum. “These Punu come from my lands and are only utilised as needed. I cave artifacts such as clap sticks, shields, boomerangs, spears and Piti bowls”.
“I use River Gum wood for my Coolamon’s and clapping sticks because once oiled the wood becomes the colour of Mother Earth, I also use Mulga Hardwood for making boomerangs, hunting clubs shields, spears. I feel I’m still keeping tradition alive by using the kangaroo sinew to attach the hooks onto woomera’s and spears an also attaching emu feathers together for ceremony. I also collect resin from the spinifex bush”.
“My artwork reflects my past/our past, wood apart from rock art is the oldest form of any art in the world. It wasn’t just art, it kept us warm with fire, fed us also by way of hunting, it provided our shelter, word protected us as well it was also a money resource by way of trading. Wood is such an important source to the first people of this land we call Australia”.
Patrick draws his inspiration from his Elders, and his tribal father Lee Patrick Brady.