Ngayu – I by Zac Hemmings

This artwork uses combinations of symbols, colours, and patterns to reflect my heritage and personal identity. The colours of blue, red, orange, green, black, and yellow portray my German, English, and Irish heritage illustrating the colours from their flags. Symbols from my Indigenous American and Aboriginal Australian heritage from my Hopi and Kamilaroi tribes have been used as well. I have depicted the symbol for creator from my Kamilaroi Tribe, and the symbol for friendship from my Hopi tribe. I have also used the emblem of a Halo to represent the religious history of my name.

This work reflects my inspiration from Jean Michael Basquiat who contributed to my style, combining elements from graffiti and his abstract works. To create this work I used, acrylic paint and modelling clay for the background and for the main figure used oil paint sticks, posca pen, and spray paint. The patchwork like design of the work reflects my very unique heritage, and my struggles with identifying as an Aboriginal when I have no defining features of an Aboriginal Australian or American Indigenous person.