Together We Walk

The artwork ‘Together We Walk’ contains various design elements created by a group of Aboriginal Students Maclean Public School in the Northern Rivers area of NSW.

During Reconciliation Week 2022, artist Frances Belle Parker and Aneika Kapeen, CEO of Mudyala Aboriginal Corporation, visited Maclean Public School where they worked alongside the children to create the artwork ‘Together We Walk’.

The children were actively engaged throughout the workshop listening to Frances and Aneika talk about Aboriginal art, Reconciliation Week and learning about the work of The Bennelong Foundation.

The students were excited to be given the opportunity in creating an artwork for The Bennelong Foundation’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

Each student created specific elements to be used within the final artwork. Elements which are incorporated into the final artwork include snakes, grass trees, footprints, meeting places, people, hills, mountains, tracks, rivers, stars, the moon and the night sky. The beauty of this artwork is that all of these elements symbolise the storyline and narrative of walking together as one, alongside each other, venturing across the land and being one with nature.

Together with the use of the vivid colours, which not only reflect the energy of the youth who played a pivotal role in the creation of this work, the colours also depict the vastness of the colours within the Australian landscape.

This represents the journey of First Nations people across the country, and also the ongoing journey which continues to be taken by ALL Australians.

Together we walk.