November-December 2005
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Artworks from the Indigenous Arts Unit, School of Art, RMIT University
Participating Artists:
Aunty Gwen Garoni (Taungerong), Turbo Brown (Latji Latji), Aunty Frances Gallagher (Kirrae Wurrung), Jarrod Atkinson (Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara), Jenny Dunne (Gunditjmara), Sharni Williams (Kirrae Wurrung), Uncle Herb Patten (Gunnai), Aunty Bunta Patten (Gunditjmara), Mandi Barton (Yorta Yorta), Adrian Austin (Gunditjmara).
This display presents a selection of works on canvas from the Koori students and elders of the Indigenous Arts Unit, School of Art , RMIT University , Bundoora West Campus.
Small format paintings have been specifically chosen for this space with each work offering diversity in both media and cultural content.
The art mediums employed include traditional Koori materials such as natural earth and ochre pigments combined with the introduced mediums of oil and acrylic-based paints. The ochres have been gleaned from many different locations around Victoria and by incorporating these materials into their artworks hold a cultural significance for the artists-as a form of acknowledgment of their Koori ancestors who first used this media for their body and artefact adornment. The use of these materials also offer students the opportunity to experiment in texture and form as seen in the use of tribal mark making by Kirrae Wurrung artist, Sharni Williams.
The new mediums of oil and acrylic paints have been applied through various painting methods including the addition of coloured varnishes and binders resulting in a variety of distinctive outcomes. If we compare works between Adrian Austin, who works in an expressionistic manner using oil painmyts diluted in linseed oil and damar varnishes, to the ‘dry' acrylic method employed by the bird -themed works of Turbo, we cannot identify a single Koori style. Culturally, Victoria is divided up into many Koori nations who each have their own respective totems and customs. The birds and animals of his Mildura Riverland country influence Turbo while Adrian is of Western Victoria Gunditjamara heritage. Adrian 's works are untitled as he describes his painting is an instinctive visual and coloured response to his Koori identity. He is not concerned with applying traditional motifs into his work for it to appear what he considers as ‘Koori' By contrast, Jenny Dunne, who comes from the same clan group works from traditional possum skin cloak designs, re-interpreting these marks with natural pigments overlayed on an acrylic base.
The notion of land and country is an important theme in contemporary Victorian Koori art. Elders, Aunty Gwen Garoni and Aunty Frances Gallagher both work through a narrative and figurative style literally illustrating a landscape scene from their childhoods involving visits to the beach and camping out in the Grampians. In direct contrast once again, Mandi Barton illustrates her Central Victorian Yorta Yorta land through a terrestial and sun theme, employing directional marks and colours to signify each element.
Overall, this display also serves as an acknowledgement of an ongoing Indigenous presence in tertiary education. Installing the work on campus at Melbourne University acts as a cross-institutional exercise and also allows the artists to show their work to a new campus audience. The small scale of the works offers only a ‘cross -section' of Koori cultural identity; however, the artists invite the viewers, who may be local or international, to observe these works to gain an awareness of Victorian Koori art and culture.
Sharon West 2005
Indigenous Arts Unit
School of Art, RMIT University
Enquiries:
Sharon West: PH: 9925 7501
Ron Handford
Enquiries: ronhandford@hotmail.com