Paul Shilling

As an aboriginal man, Paul feels the need to shed the image that was taught to him as a child – that he was undesirable, shameful, unworthy. This continual redefinition, the questioning and searching, keeps Paul’s work alive; seeking to shed the old self and invite the new, and ever-changing self. As he expresses himself, he heals himself; the inner voice and the inner eye clear and open for the energy of the image to move through him from “the great house of invention”. This is the manifest vision from the sky world which springs to life in the paintings.

“There are many bundles that we talk about; the pipe, the drum, the rattle, medicines, and our children. Those are all sacred. But l believe the most sacred bundle of all is the little girl and little boy that lives inside of us. So the healing begins, the brushes begin to move, eyes begin to open, the fire is rekindled, the old self dies, and the new arises. Heal the child within, and life becomes sacred. Living begins to mean something again.” - Paul Shilling