Oxum who lives in the Murrumbidgee River. Oxum is an Afro Brazilian spirit-goddess, represented by the rivers and fresh waters.  Oxum brings the qualities of the river: fertility, generosity, love, life’s protection. She also represents cultural resistance:  she was brought to Brazil during the long centuries of slavery that shamed human history. From 1550 until 1888 nearly 4 million people survived the painful journey from Africa to Brazil. Not everyone agreed with slavery, however it was portrayed as necessary for progress. Without it the economy would collapse. There are parallels to the present situation, the issues of climate change; the need for change and the fear of that change.

The religion and culture of the African people were prohibited. In quiet defiance, each deity (Orixas) became connected to a Catholic saint and celebrated during that saint’s festivities. The prohibition was lifted in 1945.

I was initiated to Oxum on the 8th of December, the day sacred to Our Lady of Conception. My mother is a priestess of Oxum in Brazil, where I was born. She taught me that the children of Oxum are generous and kind, but like water, not to be taken for granted.

I want to bring the spirituality of the water into the stories of the river. For 20 years, since I came to live in Tharwa, I have kept the river water in a small bowl in my house, a ritual to remind me of the importance of the river.

I used to hear the river running from my home.  It was like a lullaby at night, but it has been a long time since we had a full flowing river.  I know that it is still there, sometimes under the dry sand when it disappears. I wonder about the life that lives in it:  fish, frogs, little creatures of the water.

On the 18th of December 2009, one year before the opening of the exhibition at the Canberra Museum, Oxum came to Tharwa to meet a young biologist, Dr Tanya Detto, and the artist. She danced in her yellow clothes, and amber beads.  Helped by a Yawô, she brought water from the river for the artist and for the scientist. 

This became the first message in a bottle: