Aski Earth Terre Yarta: Meryl McMaster and James Tylor

For the ACP’s annual ‘In dialogue’ 2019 two Indigenous artists, one Australian the other Canadian, communicate their histories of European colonization. James Tylor (Possum) explores Australian cultural representations through his multi-cultural heritage, which comprises Nunga (Kaurna), Māori (Te Arawa) and European (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, Iberian and Norwegian). In Kaurna language, 'Turalayinthi Yarta' means ‘to see yourself in the landscape’ or ‘landscape photography’. The 'Turalayinthi Yarta' series was taken by Tylor over a two-year period as he walked sections of the 1,200 km long Heysen Trail, parts of which trace the boundary of Kaurna lands across the Mount Lofty Ranges.

In painting over the photographs with ochre, pipeclay and charcoal the artist is embodied within these ancestral spaces. His use of traditional language and design also honours the many Nunga nations of this area, including Ramindjeri, Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna, Peramangk, Ngadjuri, Adnyamathanha, and Nukunu lands.The carved and painted artifacts included in the series are potent in their activation of the Nunga people’s intellectual, spiritual and physical connection with 'yarta', or Country.

Being born into the heritage of both Canadian Plains Cree and migrant British and Dutch has shaped Meryl McMaster’s relationship to the environment. Her awareness of time also comes from this melding of diverse cultural approaches – one linear and extending in both directions from the present, the other recurrent and cyclical.

The series 'As immense as the sky' features sites on the central and southern Canadian Prairies. Through the use of photography and performance the artist has reconnected with
 her ancestors and introduced herself to the land they inhabited. The elements of the environs, birds, beasts, and foliage have emerged from the narratives of the landscape to embellish her poems and images. While the rain, clouds and pale light on the horizon emphasize fleeting changes over an ageless terrain.