The Water spider or pond skater is found in freshwater rivers or creeks. They float or ski on top of the water. When I was a child my cousins and I would chase them and try and catch them, if we caught one it was like winning gold, and we would get so excited. My Grandparents told us it was good for our reflexes and great exercise. This painting is based on the Water spider insect and painted in the style of the traditional rainforest shields. The shields can be up to 1.4M long x 450mm wide. These large shields provided a “canvas” for a unique style of art to evolve exclusively amongst the rainforest aboriginal people over thousands of years. The shields are made from a light timber, the native fig tree, and cut out from the buttress of the tree. These native fig trees are only found in the Far North Queensland rainforest region of Australia, which probably explains why the wonderful designs, incorporating individual and clan totems found on the artefacts, evolved in virtual isolation from any other style found in Australia.
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Napolean has worked for over 13 years as a senior cultural performer, presenter, tour guide and educator at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park in Cairns, passing on to thousands of people an insight into his traditional culture. His native language is Djabugay and his language name is Weika meaning ‘quiet one’. “It is my strong connection to the traditional culture that inspires my paintings. Our rainforest shields incorporated bold designs through which we expressed our connection to living things and the land, using strong ochre colours highlighted by black outlines. It is these designs and colours that inspire my contemporary interpretation onto canvas.”
You can contact Napolean directly by clicking this link: Napolean Oui