Male and female Dugong
Artist
Fiona Foley
(Indigenous Australian, born 1964)
Date1988
Object number00004531
NameDrawing
MediumPastel on paper
DimensionsSight: 583 × 782 mm
Image: 566 × 760 mm
Overall: 781 × 983 × 2.9 mm
Mount / Matt size (F Fini Mount): 810 × 1010 mm
Image: 566 × 760 mm
Overall: 781 × 983 × 2.9 mm
Mount / Matt size (F Fini Mount): 810 × 1010 mm
Copyright© Fiona Foley
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA drawing by Fiona Foley titled 'Male and Female Dugong'.
The traditional diet of the Butchulla people on K'gari was seafood based and inculded a large varity of fish and shell fish. It also inculded turtle and dugong which could be hunted from canoes and spent time wintering at the tip of K'gari.
Fiona Foley is Wondunna clan of the Badtjala/Butchulla nation who are the traditional owners of K’gari (Fraser Island) and is based in Brisbane, Queensland.
HistoryFiona Foleys a Badtjala activist, curator, writer, painter, printmaker, photographer, sculptor and installation artist. She was a founding member of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative established in Sydney in the 1980s.
The traditional diet of the Butchulla people on K'gari was seafood based and inculded a large varity of fish and shell fish. It also inculded turtle and dugong which could be hunted from canoes and spent time wintering at the tip of K'gari.
SignificanceThis is an early work by Fiona Foley and the symbols she uses here refers to the traditional way of life of the Badtjala/Butchulla before there were displaced by European colonisation. The Badtjala/Butchulla were intuitively aligned with their surroundings, utilising resources but never depleting them. Their intricate understanding of K'gari is seen through ceremonies and artwork. 
1990s