Erin Jia, Travelling Dillybags

Acrylic on canvas
76 x 101.5 x 1.5

Travelling Dillybags,” represent the connections I carry.  This was created during a major transition in my life and practice — a shift from working deeply within one Cape York community to walking alongside many.  The dillybags are vessels for the relationships I build across the Cape.  They drift across the canvas the way I move between communities – guided by respect, listening, and building cultural connections.  Each bag stands alone but sits as a collective of connections.
These colours reflect the Country I have travelled, the roads that wind across the Cape, and the shifting light that marks each place I’ve had the privilege to work in. As I layered these colours, I felt the sense of movement that has shaped my recent journey — not just physical travel, but emotional and cultural movement too.
“Travelling Dillybags” is a tribute to community, to movement guided by respect, and to the quiet, steady work of weaving connections across vast Country. It is a reminder that every journey adds a new fibre, and every community becomes another carefully held strand in the broader weaving of the Cape.
This artwork is both a reflection of where I have been and a map of the journeys still ahead.