On 1 July 1871, Reverend A W Murray and his group of English and Kanak missionaries arrived at Erub (Darnley Island). The following year they set up the London Missionary Society’s Torres Strait headquarters on Mer (Murray Island). The arrival is celebrated annually across the Torres Straits Islands with the ‘Coming of the Light’ festival and acknowledges the merging of Christianity with customary law and beliefs in contemporary life.

For this and other festivals dancers wear headdresses, dari (Eastern Island language name) or dhoeri (Western Island language name). Traditionally, dari are made from natural fibres, shells and bird feathers, such as heron or Torres Strait pigeon, attached to a bamboo frame. The design and significance of dari vary across the islands and are specific to the dance and the occasion. In 2010, Jewell documented the Purple Spider Dance Team performing the kab kar (sacred dance) at the Coming of the Light festival on Erub. The dari is also the central motif of the Torres Strait Islander Flag. 

About the Artist

Artist, educator and community arts administrator Bronwyn Jewell is a graduate from the Canberra School of Art (now the School of Art and Design) at Australian National University. In the 1980s, she was a project officer at PhotoAccess, Canberra, and later Director of the Queensland Community Arts Network. From 2008 to 2017, Jewell worked as Manager of the Gab Titui Cultural Centre for the Torres Strait Regional Authority on Thursday Island. She had several solo exhibitions at PhotoAccess and was included in numerous group exhibitions including ‘Between the Covers’, Canberra Contemporary Art Space (1992); ‘Hidden Talents’, FaCS, ACT (2000); and PhotoAccess Members’ Exhibitions (2009 and 2011).