Mo'iam – Archer River

Janet Koongotema was born on Wik-Mungkan Country in the community of Aurukun, on the Cape York Peninsula. She is a senior Elder and artist working through Wik & Kugu Arts Centre who first found success with her fibre works and basket weaving. Since 2010 Koongotema has focused her practice on translating her weaving techniques through paint on canvas, to capture the colours and light of Country.

When she was a young child, her father, Edward, worked as a ringer on southern Wik lands mustering cattle. On occasion, he would take Koongotema and her sister Dawn to visit Mo’iam, the site which is depicted in this work. She recalls, ‘We would travel a long way up the main Archer River and turn off up a long narrow creek … when we arrived, we could see many different colours in the land, even the colour of gold.’

Mo’iam is a sacred aak puulwuy (story place) for Wik people of the Winchanam clan, as well as a very important location for the artist’s family. Due to its significance, Koongotema regularly paints Mo’iam, along with her family’s other aak puulwuy. It is integral to Koongotema that she helps to keep this location healthy, so that the knowledge of Country can be passed on to her grandchildren. She says, ‘I want to teach people about our culture and to share the wonderful stories we have been taught, which [explain] how to respect the land.’

This work was a finalist in the 2023 Wynne Prize.