Let’s Shop With Purpose
Here at Charlie Eco we are constantly on the look out for amazing products that are literally saving the world! We look for eco credentials in organics, sustainability, local production and fair trade.
We can’t always source certified Fair Trade production but we can make damn sure that the ranges we present to you have been ethically produced and that everyone involved is getting their fair share.
Recently we’ve been focused on some amazing local initiatives and discovered the Australian Indigenous Art Code. This unique system was set up to preserve and promote ethical trading in indigenous art. Think artists being paid fairly and protection from cheap off shore knock offs!
If you want to check out the full details, please visit their website; https://indigenousartcode.org/
Here’s a brief over view of the purpose of the code and what you are supporting when you buy from producers and dealers that have signed up; The purpose of the Code is to establish standards for dealings between Dealers and Artists to ensure:
(a) fair and ethical trade in Artwork;
(b) transparency in the process of promotion and sale of Artwork; and
(c) that disputes arising under the Code are dealt with efficiently and fairly.
Alperstein Designs is our featured brand this month. They are signed to the Indigenous Art Code making sure their artists get their fair share and Charlie thinks that’s definitely worth celebrating and supporting!
Featured Artists
Mick Harding
Mick Harding belongs to the Yowong-Illam-Baluk clan (Mansfield Region) of the Taungurung people.
Mick did not know he was Aboriginal for the first 25 years of his life. When he discovered his Aboriginality, he began trying to understand what it means through his art-making. Through working closely with his own Taungurung people, he has developed a strong understanding of Indigenous culture, and has learned to appreciate the ties between the land, its flora and fauna, and man’s responsibility to protect the land and maintain the intricate and delicate relationships that exist there.
Mick draws his inspiration from the compelling legends of his people, and weaves the images of those legends into each of his art- works. Each individual piece is interwoven with a story which provides an overview of the legend depicted by the image, creating a link between the viewer and the Indigenous culture.
Murdie Morris
Murdie (Maudie) Nampijinpa Morris was born in the 1930s at Rabbit Flat, in the middle of the harsh Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory of Australia.
She was raised by her parents in the bush areas around Nyirripi and was taught the traditional ways of her people. After settling in Yuendumu in the early 1980’s she worked as a nurse and was married. Murdie started painting after attending a workshop at the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation in 2012. Her paintings depict Dreamings that have been passed down through generations in her family connected to the land and the animals and plants that inhabit it. Her style is a modern interpretation of traditional culture and she often paints her Fathers jukurrpa*, jukurrpa, Maliki Jukurrpa (Domestic Dog Dreaming) and Malikijarra Jukurrpa (Two Dog Dreaming).
* The term Jukurrpa is a term that may be applied to individual ancestral beings, or to any manifestation of their power and nature, i.e. knowledge of their travels and activities, rituals, designs, songs, places, ceremonies.