Darrell Sibosado’s work Galalan is included in the permanent display at Fondation Opale.
Darrell Sibosado’s sculptural installations can be traced back to the traditional designs on Riji – or etched pearl shells – of the Bard people in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. This installation is the artist’s tribute to the story of Galalan, the first Bard Creator Ancestor that took human form. Galalan gave men the Law and taught them how to manage and share the resources in Bard Burr (Bard Country).
When he saw evidence of greed – people taking too much, not harvesting in the right season or place and not distributing resources properly according to kinship and status – Galalan became angry with the Bard. He created rivers and streams to channel the water from the lakes to the ocean, where he released all life to make it harder to get.
The people retaliated and tracked him to Gumiri (a sacred billabong), where he was speared and thrown into the sea at Barrinjbarr. He drifted as Loolool (hammerhead shark man) until he was sang into the sky to form part of Oongoonorr (the Milky Way) in the Baagaranjara (where those without bodies live). He is the dark and light places in the Milky Way from Alpha Centauri to Antares.
