PHILIP DENHAM: My name is Philip Denham.
My practice is art,
and I work for the Girringun artists
in North Queensland, Cardwell.
I'm traditional man,
I make traditional stuff,
such as strings as my work
and also shield, boomerang,
because my mother makes basket,
I make basket in my pastime,
so it's all sort of like cultural stuff.
We sort of like to keep it in the family.
I've only learning the process that I'm on next.
The road has many roads to travel
and this is one journey I'm taking with artists
to learn a little bit more about myself,
my culture and where I'm going to,
the track that I'm taking now.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AS AN ARTIST AND HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR PRACTICE?
Yeah, well, actually, I was a banana farm worker,
and then I had a triple bypass,
and that's knocked me completely off my feet,
and I was searching for something to do positively.
So I turned to art,
and it sort of helps me, clears my mind, heal my body
in a higher space of time to do on my own.
But with those time I dedicated to art,
which has actually paid its way off in the meantime
and I'm still got - there's heaps more that I've got to learn
and would like to learn on this journey, road that I am.
I know sometimes it could get hard, but to keep on.
You've got to clear your mind, conscience, and do try
and think of positive things
and do them rightfully along the track
with having a good knowledge of what you're going to do.


WHAT MATERIALS DO YOU USE WHEN YOU'RE MAKING ART?
This is actually a string that I made.
It is actually a bush string that is found along the river bank.
First of all, you cut a stem then you shave it.
The first layer off and then you let the second layer,
dry that in the sun, then you peels it off in strips,
and this is how they come out in strips as it dries out.
And then you begin to weave it then.
Right, I'll show you how we weave it in.
If I'm sort of into the mood to do it and then bang, bang, bang,
because I'm all alone and no one sort of interfering and that,
bang, bang, bang, and then it goes on.
But as you get it then you intertwine it like that.


DESCRIBE SOME OF YOUR SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES AND WHAT THEY HAVE ENABLED YOU TO ACHIEVE?
I won the awards through working in Girringun with their help -
had to help me along the way
and that sort of encouraged me
for further on down the track
to do some more art in my line of duty sort of thing,
because when - in our culture,
when someone does you something good then you must return the favor.
And Val has been good to me and the rest of my family sort of thing.
So we sort of help each other along the way there,
even the ones that run the Girringun, yeah.
So, everything - and we work together there as one big, happy family sort of thing, yeah.
It's all good.