Tyrown Waigana, a Perth based artist and designer, has been named as this year’s winner of the prestigious National NAIDOC Poster Competition. His winning entry – Shape of Land – was judged by the National NAIDOC Committee to have best illustrated the 2020 NAIDOC theme: Always Was Always Will Be.
Waigana, a proud Noongar and Saibai Islander, has previously been named as one of WA’s best new and emerging Indigenous artists. According to the 23-year-old, his winning entry depicts the Rainbow Serpent coming out of the Dreamtime to create this country and how we are strongly connected to it.
“The Rainbow Serpent is represented by the snake and it forms the shape of Australia, which symbolises how it created our lands. The colour from the Rainbow Serpent is reflected on to the figure to display our connection to the Rainbow Serpent, thus our connection to country. The overlapping colours on the outside is the Dreamtime.”
“The figure inside the shape of Australia is a representation of Indigenous Australians showing that this country – since the dawn of time – always was, and always will be Aboriginal land,” Mr Waigana added.
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