Background Story
 
She is the Light I am.  I am the Light of Being.  We are that.
 
I am dreaming.  I am both within and outside myself, sitting by the Wollondilly River, in reverie of wholeness and peace.  One with the stones, water, air, earth, plant, all Creation, myself. 
 
Breath and sunlight.  Purity of being such that I have never known.
 
I look down at my body and notice every surface of my skin, including my face, is tattooed with fine, intricate patterns, all etched in White.
 
I wake, and am disappointed the tattoos are no longer visible, and can’t remember the exact nature of their design.  
 
Two years after this dream I am sitting by the ocean, in ceremonial silence after participation in a Women’s Gathering held by Minmia, Wirradjurri Law Woman, Teacher and Healer.
 
The warmth of sand beneath, the heat of Sun above.
 
As I sit, breathing with sand, sea and sun, I am suddenly infused with the Light of the Sun as Female.  Her energy wrapping me in a blanket of ancient MotherLight. Her constancy and endurance radiant and eternal.
 
I remember that in Latvia, the land of my maternal ancestry, the Sun is the Goddess Saule.  In Australia, the land of my birth, the Sun is also female.  One of her names is Uri. 
 
* Incorporated into this painting are both traditional Latvian and Aboriginal Australian motifs.  The Latvian symbols refer to my maternal ancestry and at the centre of the woman's chest is painted the symbol of both the Sun and the Sun and MorningStar motif combined.
In relation to the Aboriginal Australian motif patterning - as I have been shown by Indigenous women I have sat with - the 'horse-shoe' glyph with the digging stick beside represents women's sitting ground... women sitting together within a shelter, around a campfire, or a water hole...   
My intent in weaving this glyph into the painting is to invoke, honour and make reference to the land upon which I was born - the continent of Australia whose First People are the Aboriginal Peoples.  This awareness is imprinted into my skin and by its additional inclusion in the skirt worn by the woman in the painting also references the Original Indigenous ground upon which I sit/walk/stand - and the Aboriginal Women and Grandmothers who have walked before.  
 
I give thanks to the Indigenous women, teachers, elders who have shared their knowledge with me and embraced me as Sister and Daughter through the kinship skin tradition.
 
 
(Original Painting - Acrylic on canvas - 90cm x 90cm. 2015)
 
Artwork / images are copyrighted © Zenta Zebergs, zentaimprints