Injinoo (and all Aboriginal) people are at one with the land, sea and sky.”
T E H O
N O R T H
ROPEYARN
TRAVERSING THREE REALMS: The physical, natural & spiritual 24 JUNE — 13 AUGUST 2022 The narratives in his work explore several traditional and historical stories including significant events, dreaming sites, totems, the four clan groups that make up the Injinoo peoples and ceremonial body designs encompassing spiritual connection to Country and Ropeyarn is descended from the Angkamuthiand Yadhaykana community on both land and sea. With a focus on preserving and clans from Injinoo on the documenting permitted stories mainland, Badu, Moa and and knowledge passed down Murray Island in the Torres from Elders, Ropeyarn’s visual Strait; Woppaburra people narratives are recreated through (Great Keppel Island) and Batchulla people (Fraser Island). a contemporary lens. The rhythm, patterns, and His practice is focused on his imagery in his work often utilise father’s people’s heritage. elements from body markings Having lived in Injinoo most derived from his region. of his life, he focuses on his Elements of these body markings, Aboriginal heritage to keep which are applied to the abdomen what is remaining, alive. of the subjects, provide symbols that enrich his imagery and connect Ropeyarn’s spirit of the work to his people and Country.
Teho Ropeyarn is an artist and curator from Injinoo, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Born in Mount Isa in 1988, he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts (UNSW) in Sydney and is currently based in Cairns, Queensland.
Artist bio Courtesy of OneSpace
Left: Teho Ropeyarn, photographer: Ben Searcy, Courtesy of the artist the Art Gallery of South Australia and Onespace Gallery
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NorthSite Contemporary Arts
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Teho Ropeyarn, Ani, Ipi, Achah (land, water, sky), 2021, vinyl-cut print on paper, 154 x 203.5cm, edition 1/5, $7,500
TEHO ROPEYARN Athumu Paypa Adthinhuunamu (my birth certificate) Water is integral to the Injinoo people, present in our creation stories as it is in my nation’s identity. I am a descendent of the Seven Rivers people of the Angkamuthi Nation, northwestern Cape York. The seven rivers that define the Angkamuthi land mass are Jardine, MacDonald, Skardon, Doughboy, Ducie and Jackson Rivers and Crystal Creek. Our totem is uyinthayn (freshwater turtle), ikamba (crocodile) and akaymu (dingo). The rivers run into the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arafura Sea. Our creation stories are led by two umbah, great carpet snakes who formed the Great Dividing Range by digging for water. The lands were formed by the movement of their bodies; they created springs, creeks and rivers using their tails which drilled into the earth.
NorthSite Contemporary Arts is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. NorthSite is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Image top: Teho Ropeyarn, Athumu Paypa Adthinhuunamu (my birth certificate), 2022, vinyl-cut prints on paper, 350 x 720cm; each panel – 350 x 120cm, 2AP + Edition of 5. Assistant: Graham Brady. Photo: JacquieManning. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace Gallery. Image right: Teho Ropeyarn signing Ayarra (rainy season), 2021. Photo: Louis Lim. Courtesy of the artist and Onespace Gallery.
natural and the spiritual realms. The most significant watercourse on our country is the Jardine River, My work for the biennale is a visual depiction of this philosophy Queensland’s longest perennial - explaining how the land becomes river system. The river traverses the human, the human becomes lands of all four clan groups that the animal, the animal becomes make up the Injinoo people: the land, the land becomes the Gudang (north), Yadhaykana spirit, and the spirit becomes a (east), Atambaya (south central), device linking these elements. Angkamuthi (west). The head The land will only listen to waters of the Jardine River fall off its people. a low-lying plateau that is within the Great Dividing Range. Aboriginal connection to country The plateau has two identical is not just belonging. It is a waterfall cliffs that appear as the spiritually magnetic system that shape of a snake’s head, its eyes connects to all other human and are waterfall cliffs that link to the natural elements. You cannot tip of the river’s mouth. The cliffs remove the people from the land, also resemble the uterus of a which finds its way. The land will woman, making this site a special flourish when the system is place connected to the umbah reconnected, and Aboriginal and the formation of the Range. people defend this system. Injinoo (and all Aboriginal) people Artist Statement are at one with the land, sea and Courtsy of OneSpace sky. We traverse the physical, the
Teho Ropeyarn, Laying down on the beach and watching the night sky, 2022, vinyl-cut print on paper, 100 x 80cm, edition of 10, $880
TEHO ROPEYARN Upside-down Landscape series 2022
Teho Ropeyarn, Ipi (water, rain), 2021, vinyl-cut print on paper, edition 1/5, $7,500
Teho Ropeyarn, Ayarra (rainy season), 2021, vinyl-cut print on paper, 154 x 227cm, edition 3/5, $7,500
Presenting this new series of prints using the Cape York Lily plant as a reference to home in Injinoo and country, these works are purposely displayed upsidedown to reflect the sacredness of land and the countless footprints that have shaped the stories. Our culture tells us that we go back to the land as Aboriginal people and become part of the surrounding environment. I have thought to change the way we see the landscape through our everyday western eye, and rather flip the imagery, to change the way we think about how Aboriginal people see the land. I have done this so to explore the notion of Aboriginal worldviews
where that the land is not what you see when you know it from the inside out. This teaching comes from parents, family members, and elders as they continue to pass on generations of stories orally that continue to shape the land as a spiritual entity and life force. The Cape York Lily flower is reminiscent of family gathering and bush camping during the 90s on the east and west coast around Injinoo and northern Cape York. Artist Statement Courtsy of OneSpace