Out of the Darkness and Into the Night

This quilt is one of an ongoing series about Aboriginal middens on the coastline of NSW, in South Eastern Australia. These sites were used for hundreds, or thousands of years. The hearthstones used to cook the shells brought from the nearby sea have changed colour over the years. The shells were broken to remove the meat.

Silcrete oxidises when exposed to frequent and regular heat, so the cool greys and ochres of the stones have become terracotta, with a black core.

I made it a night view as the sun bleached shells glow white like beacons at night - and allowed the hearthstones to glow with ancient remembered heat.