My contribution to Collab Australia is inspired from Australian aboriginals – their flag and art. The Aboriginal Flag was designed by Harold Thomas, an artist and an Aboriginal, in 1971. The flag was designed to be an eye-catching rallying symbol for the Aboriginal people and a symbol of their race and identity. The black represents the Aboriginal people, the red the earth and their spiritual relationship to the land, and the yellow the sun, the giver of life.
The Goanna is a large lizard which lives in dry climates in Australia. It acquired its name because of its resemblance to the iguana. The Aboriginal word for goanna is Wardapi in the Warlpiri language and Perente in the Pintupi language. In the Aboriginal Art Regions of Central Australia, the Goanna is a totemic spirit and Australian Aboriginal artists paint their Goanna Dreaming to honour their ancestral spirit.
My passion is creating textured cakes. So I tried to use different techniques in order to create my cake based on the colors of the Aboriginal flag. I covered the bottom tier in gathered red fondant using billowing technique. Top tier is covered with edible gelatin glitter. For the middle tier ( the sun ) I used isomalt coloured in gold. The goanna is made from black fondant then covered in tiny little white perals and then painted by hand.Tried to create dot painted goanna. This technique I used also for the cake board. Dot painting is recognised as unique and integral to Australian Aboriginal Art. Before Indigenous Australian art was ever put onto canvas the Aboriginal people would smooth over the soil to draw sacred designs which belonged to that particular ceremony.
Body paint was also applied which held meanings connected to sacred rituals. These designs were outlined with circles and encircled with dots.
I put the final touches to my design by adding some native australian flowers. Golden wattle is Australia’s official flower emblem and waratah is native to the southeastern parts of Australia. Aborigines used the seeds of several species as a source of food.