WARRNAMBOOL Indigenous artist Sherry Johnstone – a Keerray Woorroong and Yorta Yorta woman, has designed the Geelong Football Clubs 2024 Indigenous jumper.

The Australian Football League use the ‘Indigenous Round’ to celebrate the contribu-on of indigenous people to the game of football.

The game that so many of us love and partake in – whether that is as a player, supporter or spectator – was derived from an Aboriginal game known as marngrook and Gaelic football, played in Ireland.

I caught up with Sherry to see how this all evolved.

Sherry, how did you come to design the 2024 indigenous jumper?

“One of our community members sent me through the expression of interest link – thank goodness he did, because I would have missed it completely – that was in 2022,” she said.

“I was really busy at the time, but the submission details seemed pretty straight forward – so I chose an existing artwork that I had previously created that had a lot of blues and a nice story and submiBed that.

“The good thing about the requirements was that it encouraged you to tell your own story, but you could only submit one artwork.

“During the process, you can work with one of their graphic designers to project your submitted artwork image onto a digital jumper mock up.

“I didn’t think it was enough, because by the time they added the hoops, they cut through important details therefore making the story feel disconnected, so I submitted the complete artwork on the jumper without the hoops

and hoped it was enough for the selection panel to see its potential.

“Two artists were chosen for 2023 and 2024 and I was lucky enough to be chosen for 2024.”

Once it was confirmed to Sherry that she was chosen as the 2024 successful artist, she then decided to create a new design which started with the concept of shields down each side of the jumper and then adding the elements as layers to keep with the traditional hoop style.

Sherry explains the deeper meaning behind the artwork.

“This artwork reflects my own personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences and how I view the world and everything it beholds,” she said.

“All things have a place, purpose, spirit, and connection.

“If we can all take the time to respect, listen, observe, connect, learn, and grow from what surrounds us, we can learn to live in harmony with it and care enough to contribute to creating a more sustainable future for our children and generations to come.”

“I once read a wise Indian Chief’s powerful proverb that (had) an impact on me.

“It said, ‘We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children’.

“Overall, I wanted this Guernsey design to create thoughts and conversations about looking after Country, and how important it is to appreciate, protect and fight for what we have whilst restoring what is struggling to survive.

“So, the key messages are for us all to be aware of the impact we are having on our environment and animals and working together on creating timely solutions.

“The bottom layer of the guernsey is Sea Country – meaning: The ocean is a powerful and cleansing force with a deep energy.

“It reminds us that when things get rough, like rough seas with large waves, you can choose to surrender to it or ride the wave.

“You can’t stop the wave from crashing so don’t fight it, but you can keep moving forward with it. Give your fears to it and let it wash them away, let it calm your mind with its hypnotic movement and listen deeply to your inner thoughts.

“Second layer from the bottom is Flat Country – meaning: Flat Country provides perspective. It gives us spatial awareness and helps us know our place, it provides visual distance, keeping us level-headed and enabling us to see clearly what lies ahead.

“The middle layer is Stoney Country – meaning: The stones represent grounding; they hold ancient energy.

“They remind us to stay still, pause for a moment, ground ourselves, take one step at a time and pave your own way through life.

“The second layer from the top is Hilly Country – meaning: The arches represent hills and mountains, which can also represent challenges and overcoming them.

“Individually we all face our own challenges throughout life, it’s about finding our own inner strength and surrounding ourselves with positive people that help us believe in our own abilities – like a football team believing in each other and trusting each other’s abilities, to then overcome the challenges together.

“The top layer represents our waterways – meaning: Rivers are the veins of Mother Earth, representing a long journey that will be endured, constantly changing directions, and encouraging us to create our own path.

“They also represent time, as time is like a river, you cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again, so it is about relishing this Ame, moment, and opportunity.

“The footprints – meaning: The footprints are to remind us of who roamed our lands and waterways first, our First Nations peoples.

“Acknowledging and respecting how they were able to live with and from the land, sustaining it for over 60 thousand years. They also encourage us to find our own feet, place and purpose on this Earth and get us thinking about our own environmental footprint.

“Each side of the Guernsey has a shield – meaning: The shields represent protection.

“I have used them to remind us to hold up our own shields and protect what we love and care about, to become warriors and guard our environment against future harm.

“Shoulder pattern – meaning: The hill like windows are windows of opportunity, with the pattern inside it representing the opportunities for different cultures to come together to become stronger as a collective force to protect what they are passionate about, with the hills representing all the challenges we are up against.

“The emu and kangaroo tracks represent our animals and living in harmony with them as my ancestors did, co-existing harmoniously, only taking what they needed and respecting their right to be here as much as ours. Encouraging us to think about our own current impact on them.

“We should not only live and work on Country but live and work with Country!

“The circle in the middle above the footprints – meaning: Inside the circle is a message sick, our original and traditional form of communication, where a chief would send a messenger to show the message to other tribes, summonsing them to come together for important meetings or purposes.

“The circle represents a gathering place, where we come together as a team with the message stick encouraging us to pass on the message of the importance of looking after all the elements of our land.

“Surrounding it are U shapes, they represent people, with the larger darker blue ones being adults and the smaller U shapes inside it representing children and future generations.

“Beside them are spears for them to become warriors to fight for the land, animals, and waterways.”

Congratulations Sherry – it must be great to have your designs printed onto the best jumper in the AFL.

You can find more of Sherry’s work at spiritandsoulcrea-ons.com.au