Balingup, Western Australia

Group Nyoongar

Born 1979, Perth, Western Australia

Lives and works Balingup, Western Australia

Ben Pushman is a Nyoongar artist and his people are of the Minang language group and originally from the areas around Denmark in the southwest of Western Australia.

The art of Ben Pushman is a remembrance of tribal law, for ritual, for rites of passage and for the strength of spirit given to those who continue to respect it. Within his works, Pushman tells of his experiences as an urban Aborigine and the inner conflicts he has had to deal with, such as loss and finding of identity.

 One theme that runs through his work is about scarification, which marked the body of an initiated Nyoongar man and formed part of traditional Nyoongar visual language. Another is of the six Nyoongar seasons.

Collections:

• Holmes a Court Collection
• Kerry Stokes Collection
• King Edward Memorial Hospital Collection
• Tarrawarra Museum
• Murdoch University
• Perth Convention Centre
• Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
• West Australian Parliament House Collection