GORDONVALE SHOPPING CENTRE
NORTH QUEENSLAND

ARTIST:          MICHAEL BOIYOOL-ANNING
CLIENT:          WOOLWORTHS 

Creative Road worked with renowned First Nations artist Michael Boiyool-Anning to present Yalma Bigoon, a large-scale exterior artwork for the façade of the new Gordonvale Shopping Centre. The development, on the outskirts of Cairns, is part of a broader plan of significant investment into Far North Queensland.

Michael Anning is an Indigenous craftsman and is a descendant of the Tableland Yidinji People, and also of the coastal Madjanji Clan group (south of Gordonvale). The returning cross-boomerangs (yalma) and the wooden shields (bigoon) were recognisable among Indigenous rainforest tribes in this region.
As artifacts they were painted with ochre and charcoal in a similar style with many different patterns. Michael continues a tradition developed by his Yidinji ancestors and makes a unique contribution to contemporary Australian Indigenous art.

Photography:    Philip Schouteten