About Tarryn Love
Tarryn Love is a proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong woman from south-west Victoria and has grown up on Wadawurrung Country. Tarryn’s practice exists in the space of creative cultural expression.
She is a koorroyarr, teenyeen ngapang, tyeentyeeyt ngapangyarr and wanoong ngeerrang - granddaughter, youngest daughter, youngest sister and proud Aunty. Tarryn creates under the collective of Koorroyarr which means ‘grandaughter’ in her Mother Tongue, honouring her positionality as a Gunditjmara woman. Koorroyarr represents that the sustainability of her cultural practice is in the sharing of knowledge and pays respect to her family and Ancestors, past and living. Tarryn’s work represents the distinctiveness of Gunditjmara ways of Knowing, Being and Doing that is not one way but constantly happening and changing.
Overall, she aims to explore her identity in the here and now while centring language and carrying on the work of remembering, reclamation, regeneration, and revitalisation.
Tarryn Love’s Geelong Arts Centre artwork
Wrapping the walls and panels of The Story House theatre at Geelong Arts Centre, proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist Tarryn Love’s work centres on yoowak (the night), encompassing three thematic layers: kakatheereeng, meenkeel, wootyook (the stars), tanteen tyamoorn (the Milky Way), and alam meen (Ancestors wrapped in their Possum Skin Cloaks).
Tarryn created the work digitally on an iPad, and her line work represents the distinctiveness of Gunditjmara ways of Knowing, Being and Doing. It shows the movement of time as non-linear and cyclical, and of the connection between people, places and Country. In Tarryn's culture, Possum Skin Cloaks are very important. They are a survival tool, a marker of identity and holder of stories. For Tarryn they are part of her belonging, cultural connectedness and healing.
The artwork has been translated onto the walls on perforated wood panels, with varying depth of each perforation creating a sense of light and dark, and the illusion of movement.
Tarryn hopes that young First Nations people visiting The Story House feel a sense of belonging, and that this space has been created for them, now and long into the future.
Tarryn’s work spans approximately 500 custom made panels that cover approximately 1600sqm of space. Specialised equipment was used to translate the design layouts onto plywood panels by drilling individual perforations that both form the artwork and aid theatre acoustics. The average machine time for each panel is approximately 4 hours, equating to a total of almost 2000 hours of machine time for the full work. The panel installation took in the order of 12 weeks to complete, with a specialised crew of 10 installers.
Tarryn Love reveals her work 'yoowak' at Geelong Arts Centre, 4 August. Photo by Peter Foster.
yoowak (night)
kakatheerreeng, meenkeel, wootyook - stars (top level)
tanteen tyamoorn - milky way (middle level)
alam meen - Ancestors (bottom level)
kakatheerreeng, meenkeel, wootyook
even when its dark
I can stamp my feet
on Country
and walk a path
lit up by the stars
tanteen tyamoorn
when our waterways
mirror the stars
a map from up above
is rolled out royally
in front of me
now I can dip my toes
in this great river
that flows
in the sky
alam meen
my Ancestors
before me and beyond
each one wrapped
in their Possum Skins
stories marked on their cloaks
marked in my memories
asking
do you know whose Country you walk on?
The poem above is titled in Keerray Woorroong; the traditional language of Tarryn’s people.
FOR KIDS
Tarryn Love is a proud Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist.
Her artwork covers the walls inside The Story House theatre at Geelong Arts Centre, across three whole levels!
Tarryn's artwork is all about Yoowak, which means "night" in her traditional language. It has three main parts: the stars, the Milky Way, and the Ancestors wrapped in their Possum Skin Cloaks.
She made the artwork using an iPad, and the lines in the artwork show how time is not straight but goes in circles. It also shows the connection between people, places, and the land.
There are about 500 specially made panels in the artwork, which took more than 2000 hours to make! Installing the work took 12 weeks and a team of 10 specially trained builders.
In Tarryn's culture, Possum Skin Cloaks are very important. They are a survival tool, a marker of identity and holder of stories. For Tarryn they are part of her belonging, cultural connectedness and healing.
When you look at the different holes in the artwork, can you see how they trick you into seeing light and dark? It even makes it look like the patterns are moving!