WARE 2023.261

The vibrant colours of Moilang (Rosie) Ware’s largest and most personal textile, Ngau Buai 2022, represent an intermarriage of cultures: the blue, green, black, and white of the Torres Strait flag, and additional yellow and red of the Kanak flag, an official flag of New Caledonia. Across 12 scenes, we follow the journey that Ware’s three great athes (grandfathers) took: travelling from their homes on Ouvéa and Maré, of the Loyalty Islands located in the New Caledonia archipelago; spending time on Erub (Darnley Island), Mer (Murray Island) and Besi (Mabuiag Island); to their eventual settlement at Wug village, also known as St Pauls, on the north-eastern side of Moa Island in the Torres Strait. The title Ngau Buai translates to ‘my heads-of-family’ and the artwork charts Ware’s family history from her South Sea Islander great-grandfather Ned Cutay Ware and his two younger brothers Jack and Albert Wamo Ware, who arrived in Australian territory in 1874. The fabric interweaves important dates, places, and people for future generations to celebrate and honour.