Burnt Wire Goannaby Shane Gala Forrester

This burnt wire sculpture is of a goanna from Central Australia which has prominent place in the Australian Aboriginal culture. This includes totemic relationships, anthropomorphic representations in Dreamtime stories, and as a food source.

Aboriginal people have been producing their traditional weapons and utensils made from wood for tens of thousands of years. The technique of carving animals and incising them with burnt wire decoration, known as 'poker work' in recent years. They are made from either river gum or mulga wood and are decorated with either the natural markings of the animal (as depicted) or traditional design. The Representations of goannas are common in Aboriginal artwork, not just as food, but also as a symbolic spiritual motif.

Artist:Shane Gala Forrester
Title:Burnt Wire Goanna
ID:SF12025204
Medium:Mulga Wood
Size:112 cm
Region:Alice Springs, Central Australia

Artist

Shane Gala Forrester is a local Aboriginal man from Central Australia. Shane specialises in crafting hand made implements such as tools or weapons, which includes many types of Boomerangs, Spears, Coolamon's and Digging sticks.

Shane has in depth knowledge about his Aboriginal heritage and enjoys passing on that knowledge on ceremony, creation stories, mythology and story telling.

He is very talented didgeridoo player and traditional dancer. Shane has made exclusively for Central Art a small collection of clap sticks and other weapons made from Mulga wood.

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