"Boori" Ceremony

The "Boori" is a commonly used word for baby in many Aboriginal tribes, especially understood by tribes near and on the coastline. This piece depicts a ceremony of Mother and Child birthing on country. This often happened beneath 'Sacred Trees' used for birthing ceremonies and the placing of placentas in the ground at the tree's base. The country and trees shelter the birthing mother, and the surrounding community gives comfort and offers themselves as integral pieces of the upbringing of our children. As a collectivist culture, this is how child raring is done. This offers so many advantages to our youth as so many different people offer their skills and knowledge to shape the young person. Beautiful. Peace.

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Michael Rehardt is a Gold Coast-based Indigenous artist. He likes to work with acrylic on canvas to create large dotted aboriginal paintings that captivate you with colour, imagination and beauty.

His other great artistic love is graphite portraits. This may seem like an unlikely combination, but Michaels acute eye for detail does both so well. Michael resigned from his corporate career in early 2021 to pursue his passion and love of the arts. His days are now spent painting his indigenous stories or recording music as a solo acoustic singer-songwriter.

Michael’s interest in dot painting was inspired by his mother, Leonie Rehardt, an indigenous artist. She taught Michael her unique style, this becoming the platform for his own style. Michael uses culturally-based techniques to create true Dreamtime stories utilising his own experiences and familial history.

Michael was born off country in Launceston, Tasmania and has strong ties to the Palawa people. His ancestral mob is the Boonwurrung River people of the Port Phillip area within the Kulin Nation of South-East Victoria.