Queensland Aboriginal artists Paul Bong and Michelle Yeatman feature in the Botanic Gardens installation

The 10 shields in his Lightscape piece Swords and shields – first created for the Shine On Gimuy Festival in Cairns last year – are translucent and the eight swords hanging above their heads have been reduced to mere silhouettes.

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Two of the 10 shields are 5.8 meters high and are installed at the entrance of the work. Bong said this would be the first thing people would see.

He said visitors would notice designs in the shields that evoked the sting of a scorpion, a Yidinji symbol for strength. Traditionally, shields imbued with strength are used in coming-of-age ceremonies for young men.

“When you get a shield, it has to be made by two people,” Bong said. “Two people build it and then give it to a young warrior.

“Then the young warrior will paint his totem and everything on that shield – a piece of a monitor lizard, snake or whatever it is – but he will (also) usually put the scorpion sting.”

In his Lightscape shields, these stitches stand out sharply and blackly against the red glow of the oeuvre.

While Bong has made her name making shields, ceramic artist Michelle Yeatman’s calling card is her round ceramic pots with images of sea creatures, which she calls Jilgi.

Her work for Lightscape, Saltwater ballsis illuminated in shades of blue, referencing the ocean and his identity as a great healer.

The spheres vary in size from less than a meter high to well above the head of a passerby.

Bong and Yeatman’s installations are complemented by narrative tracks that provide the art with a cultural context.

Lightscape will be on display at Brisbane City Botanic Gardens in conjunction with the Brisbane Festival, from 29 August to 12 October.