Everything is connected, and I am connected to it.
Ngiaga (I/I am) is a collaborative series of mixed media works by Leilani Dewis and Uncle Thomas Brown (Senior) created with other First Nations artists. Together, they explore interconnected stages of life through 10 themes: Birth, Connection, Heritage, Culture, Community, Society, Lived Experience, Mother Earth, Spirituality, and Purpose (Life Path). These works reflect the stages we move through, not only as individuals, but as part of a collective experience shaped by culture, connection, and community.
Deeply autobiographical, the series holds space for personal resonance and shared memory. Each piece draws from lived experience and cultural knowledge, grounded in spirituality, Country, and genealogy. Through this lens, Ngiaga (I/I am) becomes both a personal reflection and a cultural map — honouring what we inherit, what we carry, and what we pass on.
This exhibition invites audiences to witness, reflect, and connect — to see life as a continual thread woven through identity, kinship, and spirit.
About the Artists
Leilani Dewis
I am a 22-year-old Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman from Jervis Bay, currently based in Canberra. I hold deep cultural ties and responsibilities to the Yuin, Bundjalung, Wuthathi, and Boigu Island.
Growing up within an Aboriginal community and living on Country has deeply shaped my relationship with the ocean, animals, culture, and community. These experiences have instilled a strong passion for caring for and protecting Country, grounded in cultural knowledge and community values.
My connection to culture continues to inspire and influence creative work, with my art serving as both a reflection of identity and a way to honour and share the stories of my people.
Uncle Thomas Brown (Senior)
My name is Thomas Brown Senior. I am an Aboriginal man from the south coast of New South Wales, Australia.
My passion for my art work comes from my strong Aboriginal cultural beliefs and from my family.
My strong ties to my traditional land also signified my cultural identity as an Aboriginal person and amplifies my “Connection to Country”.
At the commencement of my artwork I choose themes that depict my views of the current lifestyle of my people.
I then construct and generate in my mind a visual medium to illustrate the views I believe represent those significant issues.
I believe that my voice as an artist and an Aboriginal person produces artwork that is impartial, but more importantly authenticated evidence.
My artwork is a personal journey of the past and the current lifestyle of my family, my community and my people.
In my artwork I utilise shells found on a beach in my Traditional Country.
It is during my journey in creating my artwork that I am able to enlighten and further illustrate the struggle of my people since the colonisation of Australia in 1788.
I do believe that the shells chosen visually portray their own splendour to the extent that each shell showcases its own beauty.
My sense of belonging and connection to my Traditional Country is prominently exhibited.
I truly believe that consumers will be given an insight into identifying and recognising significant issues affecting Aboriginal people in Australian society today.
Overall, I believe that it is the artworks striking beauty that will entice consumers and therefore enrich the life of the receiver.
Images
Tides (detail) by Leilani Dewis
Outsider Series 1 (detail) by Leilani Dewis
Outsider Series 2 (detail) by Leilani Dewis
Outsider Series 3 (detail) by Leilani Dewis
Cycles of Country (detail) by Leilani Dewis
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