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United / Val Saunders.
Painting purchased from the artist by the New South Wales Teachers Federation 3rd February 2000 for use on the cover of the Federation's "Aboriginal policy booklet", which see also. The painting is on display in the Federation's Library. "This painting tells the story of the sharing of knowledge and the learning process between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, through the medium of schools. The round circles represent the schools with the very inner circle being the Aboriginal Education Policy, found in every school. The line between the circles/schools are the paths forming connections linking each to the other in their common goal of learning, creating a oneness in their commitment to Aboriginal education. The ants traversing the paths are the representation of the teachers, students and community (both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal). This is indicated by the coloured dots around the bodies of the ants. The actual ants are all one colour to depict all people belonging to the family of humans. The ants enter the circles/schools travelling around the schools gaining knowledge and appreciation of the uniqueness of Aboriginal culture, all learning to care and share one another's culture through the medium of the schools. They take the paths from the schools (indicated by the ants travelling in opposite directions) creating a continuous process of gaining knowledge and taking the knowledge back out to the communities represented by the dots in the background. "United" was painted by Val Saunders to be the cover for the Aboriginal Education Policy adopted by the 1999 Annual conference of the NSW Teachers Federation." - Painting narration. Collection code: Artworks.