Description
Waltzing Matilda is an Australian bush ballad, a blend of poetry and folk music often described as the country’s “unofficial national anthem”. The title was Australian slang for traveling on foot, by walking (waltzing) with one’s belongings in a “matilda” (swag) slung on one’s back from a song by Godfrey Leland narrating the story of a swagman (itinerant worker) boiling a billy at a bush camp after catching a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. This collage was inspired by a trip to Alice Springs and the outback where I slept under the stars in a swag (sleeping bag) listening to the sound of wind on rock–and the rush of millions of bat wings at dusk when the nocturnal vampires leave their caves. Kangaroos really do sort of waltz, standing upright and swinging punches like a boxer in the ring. Maybe because of such strange creatures, magical light and open spaces Australia is also known as Oz.
