The Possum Skin Cloak

Dr Vicki Couzens gathered together over 60 possum skins to create the Cloak. She used an historic image of Kaawin Kuunawarn (1820-1889) the Chief of the Kirrae Wurrong tribe, also known as King David and Hissing Swan, as the inspiration and model for the final work. The image shows Kaawirn Kuunawarn standing in a dignified and stately manner as befitted his role and status as a Senior Elder. This stance informed the intent of the artwork in the shaping of the Cloak. The possum skins were stitched together with a synthetic sinew to emulate the original process using untanned skins and kangaroo sinew. (Pictured overpage: Dr Vicki Couzens with her daughter, Jarrah Bundle sewing the possum skins together)

‘One of the things about making sculpture is that the material that you use has to suit the idea of the work. We couldn’t actually use a Possum Skin Cloak, so for us to get the same effect it was a little bit like poetry where you use words to infer things without directly saying them. And this is what we had to do to achieve the same sense of the materiality of the Possum Skin Cloak.’

JEPH NEALE