Peggy Kasabad Lane

Urapun Thithuy, Suruyl Thithuy, Puyayl Thithuy

Urapun Thithuy – E star (Aka), one star (Ama)
Suruyl Thithuy – Exploding star (me)
Puyayl Thithuy – Bright star (daughter)

These stars represent a beaded design that carries my matriarchal lineage: my Aka, Mrs Keru Waigana; my Ama, Ms Goeynaw Isua; myself; and my daughter.

We are held in connection, across stars, seas, and lands. The superhighway, connecting sky to land and sea, is the living breath between us, the life force that carries memory, movement, and belonging.

To know where we are going, we must first turn toward where we have come from.

The earth beneath us, the sea around us, and the stars above us each hold their own stories, yet they are never separate. They speak to one another. They are layered, woven, and carried through time.

This connection is held in waku, woven coconut leaf mats and in adornments shaped from the gifts of Country and sea: shells, seeds, and later, glass beads.

The glass beads speak of close and far reaching journeys, of trade winds, ocean crossings, and worlds meeting. Yet their meaning reaches deeper still. They show how new materials are gathered into ancient designs, not replacing what came before, but becoming part of a living cultural story.

They carry adaptation.
They carry continuity.
They carry resilience.

They speak of our people who move with change, who grow through time, yet remain anchored in cultural spirit, knowledge, and intent.

Within this journey, the beaded designs of Urapun Thithuy, Suruyl Thithuy, and Puyayl Thithuy shine as markers of connection, memory, and becoming.

Like the waku woven, or the thread the intertwines each glass bead, our interconnectedness is our strength.

Our culture continues, breathing, shifting, returning; forever changing, and it is through the strength of the matriarchal linage that we continue.