Ceremony

Tommy McRae lived with his family in the upper Murray region of New South Wales/Victoria, on a reserve at Lake Moodemere near Mahgunhah and Corowa. He began drawing late in life, and his drawings, made using readily available commercial ink, pens and sketchbooks, depict aspects of Aboriginal life, the impact of British colonialism, and the incursion of European and Chinese people onto Aboriginal land.

Ceremony c.1880 captures a group of Aboriginal men dancing in rhythm with shields and spears held aloft. The bold rendering of the men’s figures and the graphic repetition of their forms, particularly their legs, evokes the energy of the performance and the strength of cultural activity being referenced.