Lisa Michl Ko-manggen 'Pipi Shuffle'

Lisa Michl Ko-manggen 'Pipi Shuffle'

Acrylic on Canvas, 2023.

45.5 x 91cm

This artwork is about when my siblings and I went to the beach everyday with my grandmother and mother to collect Pipi shells. We found then just above the water line, and can they be found because you can see a raised mound in the sand. Pipis can be found by doing the ‘pipi shuffle’. This is a matter of simply shuffling your feet into the sand as the water covers your feet or ankles. You can move around and continue the shuffle until you feel pipis beneath your feet. After a while you will have lots that can be cooked and eaten. Pipi shells can be a cream to pale brown shell, sometimes slightly yellow or green and with pink-purple bands. Pipis are the largest of the wedge shells (agile bivalves) and live on the lower slopes of sandy beaches, they are the most common mollusc on many ocean beaches. We grew up on the beach, grounded, on country.

Exhibited in 'YOU & ME' exhibition @ UMI Arts Gallery, March 2024 - May 2024.