From his Lombadina community on the Dampier Peninsula on Western Australia’s West Kimberley Coast, Darrell Sibosado engages in a dynamic contemporary continuation of riji (carved pearl shell) traditions. Sibosado translates their geometric, maze-like patterns and motifs, traditionally etched onto the inner surface of the pearl shell, into abstractionist artworks and installations.

On display in the Asia Pacific Triennial, Sibosado’s Ilgarr (blood) 2024 is composed in enamelled steel and backlit with neon LED and is a dynamic expression of Bard ancestral land, lore, language and philosophy. Within the work, multiple symbols combine to assert the importance of ilgarr (blood). Sibosado’s designs consider the sacredness, or theology, of blood; what it means to draw blood; the discovery of blood by ancient beings; and, as Sibosado explains, ‘the different relationships with, and significance of blood in our lore and throughout our culture’.