Toyota Community Spirit Gallery & Koorie Heritage Trust present
PaRing Gallery AN EXHIBITION BUILDING PATHWAYS BETWEEN FIRST AUSTRALIAN CULTURE AND THE MELBOURNE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
7 July to 15 October 2010
Toyota Australia, 155 Bertie Street, Port Melbourne Open Mon - Fri 9am to 5pm or by appointment Inquiries Ken Wong 0419 570 846
Toyota Community Spirit Gallery The Toyota Community Spirit Gallery is an initiative of Toyota Community Spirit, Toyota Australia's corporate citizenship program. Toyota Community Spirit develops partnerships that share Toyota's skills, networks, expertise and other resources with the community. The Toyota Community Spirit Gallery aims to provide space for artists, especially emerging artists to show their work. The space is provided free of charge to exhibiting artists, no commission is charged on sales and Toyota provides an exhibition launch and develops a catalogue for each exhibition. The gallery has now shown works by over 550 artists. This project is mounted in partnership with Koorie Heritage Trust and in consultation with Hobsons Bay City Council and the City of Port Phillip.
PaRing Gallery AN EXHIBITION BUILDING PATHWAYS BETWEEN FIRST AUSTRALIAN CULTURE AND THE MELBOURNE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
Featuring the works of Megan Cadd, Will Carter, Vicki Couzens, Lee Darroch, Peter Farmer, Gerald Fysh, Mick Harding, Patricia Harrison, Coral Hayes, Kamahi Djordon King, Elizabeth Liddle, Helen Morris, Jilalga Murray-Ranui, Janet Ogston, Patricia Pittman, Wayne Quilliam, Irene Ridgeway, Jenny (Tweety) Solomon, Peter Waples-Crowe, Lisa Waup & Gloria Whalan Thanks To
Koorie Heritage Trust Tania Blackwell, Hobsons Bay City Council Louisa Scott, City of Port Phillip Toyota Community Spirit Gallery Committee Katarina Persic, Toyota Australia
Catalogue Editing Ken Wong (watcharts.com.au) Pre Press & Graphic Design Sandra Kiriacos IMAGE: FRONT COVER (all detail of works) Baby Cockatoo Feather, photograph Elizabeth Liddle, Aisaha digital print Wayne Quilliam, Big fire dead bogong moth Linocut print Mick Harding . INSIDE COVER Big fire dead bogong moth (detail) linocut print, Mick Harding IMAGE THIS PAGE Kuwarra (detail) digital print Wayne Quilliam BACK COVER Big red (detail) digital print Megan Cadd. The opinions and points of view expressed by participants through the artworks and artists statements in this exhibition and catalogue are those of the individual person or persons and are not intended to reflect the position of Toyota Australia.
Maree Clarke Ken Wong Curators This is the 23rd exhibition for Toyota Community Spirit Gallery
in a continuous program since its inception in 2004. It is however, the first to be presented in partnership with another arts organisation. The opportunity to mount an exhibition dedicated to the works of Indigenous artists has been something we have pursued for some time now, so we are particularly pleased to work in partnership with the Koorie Heritage Trust and to host this chapter of the PaRing Gallery, an initiative of the Committee for Melbourne’s Future Focus Group designed to create pathways between local indigenous people and the Melbourne business community. In particular, it has been my great pleasure and privilege to work closely with Maree Clarke, Senior Curator at the Koorie Heritage Trust and her dedicated associates. Maree has selected the artists and works for this exhibition and it has been a real thrill to work with her to present this exciting project at Toyota Community Spirit Gallery. For me personally, it has been an enlightening and powerful experience that has been significantly enhanced through watching the television series First Australians screened recently on SBS. The series tells the story of Indigenous Australians since the beginning of European settlement, from an Indigenous perspective. The artist’s stories and works included in this exhibition highlight several aspects of this larger story and bring a keen and expansive insight of enormous impact.
Above all, the story is one of survival of an enormously proud culture and people, and it is my belief that in these challenging times the courage, persistence and commitment of Aboriginal people to sustaining themselves and their culture in the face of overwhelming adversity, is a shining example for all of us. The role of caretakers of the land for example, is something that has been lost to Western civilizations in our scramble for more and more resources, but as the evidence of the costs of this become apparent, the importance of nurturing and caring for the environment that sustains us is becoming increasingly critical to the survival of our species. As Bruce Pascoe, an Australian author of Kulin heritage said in episode one of the First Australians, when describing Aboriginal culture; “It’s the longest-living civilisation on Earth… if you can’t learn something from a people that successful, then you’re defying your own intelligence.” My thanks to Maree Clarke and her team at Koorie Heritage Trust, and my congratulations to all of the participating artists for their courage and commitment to their culture and the works they have presented for this exhibition. I hope the partnership we have forged in mounting this exhibition together leads on to new and exciting pathways for us all. Welcome to PaRing Gallery. Ken Wong
PaRing Gallery
The PaRing Gallery aims to create PaRing (pathways) between the Melbourne business community and first Australian culture. The gallery is an initiative of the Committee for Melbourne’s business leadership program, the Future Focus Group, working in partnership with the Koorie Heritage Trust, and for this incarnation, the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery. In early 2008, dissatisfied with their level of understanding and connection to first Australian cultures, the Future Focus Group project team resolved to work together on creating conversations between Aboriginal Victorians and the mainstream population. The team agreed on a specific goal - to find a way for Aboriginal people to bring their art and culture deeper into the daily lives of Melbournians. By displaying this work in major corporate buildings across Melbourne, they felt they could help to create pathways between the cultures.
About the Committee for Melbourne
The Committee for Melbourne is an independent Member network of Melbourne leaders working together to encourage a competitive business culture and enhance Melbourne’s liveability. The organisation was founded in 1985, by a group of citizens concerned that Melbourne was losing its place among the world’s great cities. The Committee’s 160 members represent the most senior levels of Melbourne’s major corporations, institutions and organisations and are currently focused on outcomes that lead to positive change in climate change, higher education and transport in Melbourne. While members’ interests are diverse, the shared goal of securing Melbourne’s future as a city of world-standing is unifying, enabling the Committee to work closely with government at local, state, federal and international levels.
About the Future Focus Group
The Future Focus Group brings together Melbourne’s young leaders every two years to be challenged, connected and inspired. More than 150 young leaders have completed this intensive, two-year leadership development program since its inception in 1995. The program tests the leadership skills and commitment of Melbourne’s future corporate community leaders by asking them to form diverse project teams and initiate community projects that will benefit our city.
"...when magnificent Australian Indigenous culture is proudly presented by our 'corporate giants', I realise that Reconciliation is becoming part of our reality. My ancestors would be most proud! "
Cathy Freeman Olympic Gold Medalist & 1998 Australian of the Year
IMAGE Patricia Harrison Wire Woven Basket (detail)
Koorie Heritage Trust Inc. The Koorie Heritage Trust Inc Cultural Centre aims to protect, preserve and promote the living culture of the Indigenous people of south-eastern Australia. 'Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki', is the motto of the Trust and is the combination of two Koorie languages and means 'Give me your hand my friend' and bridge the cultural gap. The Koorie Heritage Trust Inc believes that through education and promotion it can raise an awareness and appreciation of the cultural diversity of Koorie culture in south-eastern Australia and work towards the broader goals of reconciliation for all Australians. The Trust embraces reconciliation by having Koories and nonKoories working together, side-by-side from the Board level down. All of the Trust’s activities and projects focus on reconciliation, healing, moving forward and honouring what has been before. Since time immemorial the creation stories taught Koorie people how to care for and live in unison with the land of their origin. People, who came later from a variety of cultures, brought with them their own beliefs. Many do not know the intricate original stories of this land. Bringing Koorie stories forward to be included with all other stories, cultural practices and beliefs, brings an important balance to the Victorian community.
"Communicating the significance of Koorie life as an essential part of Victoria's heritage is vital for proper reconcilition in Victoria and Australia"
Jim Berg, Founder
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Megan Cadd I am woman Me, 200 years ago Big red Land Energy
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Will Carter
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Vicki Couzens
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Digital print on rag paper 2010, 40.5 x 50.8cm Digital print on rag paper 2010, 40.5 x 50.8cm Digital print on rag paper 2010, 40.5 x 50.8cm Acrylic & sand on canvas 2010, 112 x 86.5cm
Waterhole sand goannas
Wangan Nyooyoong II
$650 $650 $650 $1100
Acrylic on canvas 2010, 75 x 100cm
$780
Acrylic on canvas 2009, 122 x 92cm
$5000
Lee Darroch
Lake Condah Oil pastel on pastel paper 2009, 93.5 x 72cm $650 Gragin (Stoney Island) Tatungalung Country Oil pastel on pastel paper 2009, 90.5 x 70cm $650 Warribruk Makers Mar -Scar #2 Oil pastel on pastel paper 2009, 70.5 x 70cm $650
Peter Farmer
Karda Mubarn (Goanna Medicine)
Gerald Fysh
Kangaroos by waterhole Rosella
Acrylic on canvas 2009, 152.5 x 50.5cm $1750
Acrylic on paper 2009, 64 x 88cm Acrylic on paper 2009, 64 x 49cm
$700 $450
Big fire dead redback spider Big fire dead bogong moth Big fire dead rock scorpion
Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm
$450 $450 $450
Wire Woven Basket Tourist Mission Bag
Wire 2009, 53 x 53 x 52cm Sedge grass 2009, 66 x 210cm
$650 $690
Acrylic on canvas 2010, 100 x 100cm Acrylic on canvas 2010, 100 x 100cm
$3250 $3250
Acrylic on linen 2009, 101 x 101cm Acrylic on linen 2009, 101 x 101cm
$2600 $2600
Digital Photograph 2009, 60 x 82cm Digital Photograph 2009, 80 x 57cm Digital Photograph 2009, 80 x 57cm
$450 $450 $550
Mick Harding
Patricia Harrison
Coral Hayes
Waterhole Dreaming Snake Dreaming
Kamahi Djordon King Saltwater Section C Lifeline
Elizabeth Liddle
Mature Cockatoo Feather Baby Cockatoo Feather Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Feather
IMAGE Jilalga Murray-Ranui, Me, Myself and I #1 (detail)
Helen Morris
Karmic Tribe Tracks Thrive
Jilalga Murray-Ranui Me, Myself and I #1 Me, Myself and I #2
Janet Ogston
Flash Fish
Patricia Pittman
Yuin Dreaming
Wayne Quilliam
Aisaha Kuwarra
Irene Ridgeway
Just for the record Womens Scarring
Jenny (Tweety) Solomon Bogong Moths Snake baking in the grass
Peter Waples-Crowe
Sheep Hunt Golden
Lisa Waup
Entangled History Protective Shield Protective Element Protectve Nature
$3510 $3575 $4030
Acrylic on canvas 2009, 76 x 61cm Acrylic on canvas 2009, 76 x 61cm
$1150 $1150
Acrylic on paper 2009, 59 x 69cm
$450
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Acrylic on paper 2009, 88 x 64cm
$700
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Digital print 2009, 140 x 90cm Digital print 2009, 140 x 90cm
$6500 $6500
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Mixed media print 2009, 88 x 64cm Etched linocut print 2009, 88 x 64cm
$850 $850
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Acrylic & pastel on paper 2009, 49 x 64cm $450 Linocut print 2009, 49 x 64cm $450
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Mixed media print 2010, 84 x 59cm Mixed media print 2010, 84 x 59cm
$676 $676
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$1950 $1950 $1950 $1950
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Embossed metal, stitching, transparency paper 2009, 28.5 x 54cm Embossed metal, stitching, transparency paper 2009, 30 x 37.5cm Embossed metal, stitching, transparency paper 2009, 30 x 37.5cm Embossed metal, stitching, transparency paper 2009, 30 x 37.5cm
Gloria Whalan
Wetlands at Sale The Hidden Home
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Acrylic on canvas 2009, 83.5 x 83.5cm Acrylic on canvas 2009, 183 x 50.5cm Acrylic on canvas 2009, 122 x 122cm
Acrylic on paper 2009, 69 x 59cm Acrylic on paper 2009, 69 x 59cm
$600 $600
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Megan Cadd "As long as I am creating art, I will be exhibiting and sharing reflections on my land, life, culture, healing and life in the past and present." I AM WOMAN Digital print on rag paper 2010, 40.5 x 50.8cm, $650
"I am a proud Yorta Yorta woman and an emerging artist. My art provides me with the opportunity to reflect on my life, family, community and culture and the beauty that the universe has to offer. I am drawn to land and find myself also reflecting on the history and diversity of land. I also find myself using painting to question the Why? What? and How? on the events around me and of the past; what they mean in the context of my life today. I see the universe through an abstract lens and am inspired by contemporary aboriginal art that represents the stories of Aboriginal people and communities today, intertwined with the richness of our culture. As long as I am creating art, I will be exhibiting and sharing reflections on my land, life, culture, healing and life in the past and present."
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ME, 200 YEARS AGO Digital print on rag paper 2010, 40.5 x 50.8cm $650
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Will Carter
WATERHOLE SAND GOANNAS Acrylic on canvas 2010, 75 x 100cm, $780
"I can remember throwing my first boomerang, going on my first camp and learning to find traditional bush tucker before eating it ..."
"I remember as a young boy and as a teenager taking part in cultural camps and other activities with my family and local elders. I can remember throwing my first boomerang, going on my first camp and learning to find traditional bush tucker before eating it, as well as watching on as my elders hunted a feed of goanna, and then cooked it in the ashes. Between the age of nine and thirteen, my sister battled leukemia for three years before losing the fight in 1996. This family struggle interrupted my schooling and I dropped out after grade six. Instead of going to high school, I spent most of my time out the bush hunting, fishing and gathering didgeridoo’s and other artifacts with my uncles. This connection with the land and my culture is what inspires my art today, and to know that I am able to pass my knowledge on to my son is a great feeling."
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Vicki Couzens
"My work is about the reclamation, regeneration and revitalisation of our cultural heritage. Through both visual and performing arts we sing up country, dance up the country, paint up the country".
WANGAN NYOOYOONG II Acrylic on canvas 2009, 122 x 92cm, $5000
Vicki is a Kirrae Wurrong woman from the Western District of Victoria. She is a mother of five daughters and her family has a strong connection with the arts. Her grandfather, Nicholas Couzens, was a portrait and landscape artist, her uncle, Stan Couzens, a painter and her Aunty Zelda Couzens, a basket weaver. Vicki has a passionate commitment to reconciliation and her culture and this is reflected in the styles and content of her work. Language, line work style, cultural knowledge and stories are portrayed in her art, which ranges from the contemporary media of paints and pastels to traditional materials, such as possum skins and basket grass.
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Lee Darroch Lee is known as a leader in the recent revival of the traditional possum skin cloak making. Historically, these cloaks are extremely sacred to the South-Eastern Aboriginal peoples and one of the most important artifacts. Traditionally people were buried in their cloaks. Consequently there are only seven historical possum skin cloaks surviving in the whole world, dating back to the 1880's. Many of them are now in poor condition. There are five possum skin cloaks from the 1800's kept in overseas museum collections. A stunning cloak is held in the USA at The Smithsonian Institute: National Museum of Natural History. The British Museum holds a strip from a cloak with a spectacular pattern of diamond lozenges. The Berlin Museum of Ethnology has a possum skin cloak from the Murray River, collected or donated by Sammulung von Guerard in 1879. Finally, the Pigorini Museum of Prehistory & Ethnology in Italy holds two possum skin cloaks- one decorated and one not - which was acquired from the Australian Museum AW Franks collector, EH Giglioli Collection, 1913. Lee firstly completed archival research into the LAKE CONDAH areas that the cloaks are from and made black Oil pastel on pastel paper 2009, 93.5 x 72cm, $650 and white ink line drawings of the old cloaks. Due to the cultural sensitivities of such old historic designs it was not possible to work immediately with communities to 'remake' their historic cloaks from the 1800's. She adopted the 'community empowerment model' first used by Vicki Couzens, Treahna Hamm, Maree Clarke and herself during the Commonwealth Games possum skin cloak project. This model ensures that "Traditionally people Elders and community leaders take full responsibility for all decision-making regarding their historic possum were buried in their skin cloak designs. In the future, depending on the cloaks. Consequently decisions of the Elders from the respective tribes, it may there are only seven be possible that the local groups will wish to recreate the original 1800's cloaks. The works exhibited here are part historical possum of a number a large graphic possum skin cloak designs skin cloaks surviving based on panels of one of the historic cloaks which Lee in the whole world..." has produced as part of her research.
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Peter Farmer
"When we reflect upon our lives and how we've lived it; what our dreams have been, it sometimes isn't how things turn out in the end; which is not to say that we don't like how things panned out, just that they were different than we expected."
"When I was a young boy living in the bush in Western Australia at Gnowangerup, Tambellup, Katanning and Narrogin, we used to swim in the rivers and in the ocean at Busselton and also in Albany. When we reflect upon our lives and how we've lived it; what our dreams have been, it sometimes isn't how things turn out in the end; which is not to say that we don't like how things panned out, just that they were different than we expected. And sometimes the unexpected can be more of a pleasant surprise rather than a challenge!".
KARDA MUBARN (GOANNA MEDICINE) Acrylic on canvas 2009, 152.5 x 50.5cm $1750
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Gerald Fysh
KANGAROOS BY WATERHOLE Acrylic on paper 2009, 64 x 88cm, $700
"My name is Gerald Fysh, 38 "My culture has the last few years and have years old with ancestry from become much more learnt lots of new things the Wadi Wadi - Illawarra woodwork which included important to me as making spears and bull people in NSW. I have I have got older and roarers. I have been doing never lived in my peoples learnt more about it. I a print making course but country, only visited once, but I know of my people am proud to belong to what I really like is painting. and their stories through the Wadi Wadi mob. ." I like to paint because I like mixing my colours and this my mother Janet Wright. Janet was born and brought up in Wadi Wadi makes me feel good and happy. I have also country. My culture has become much more learnt how to blend colours and this makes important to me as I have got older and learnt my paintings better. Best of all, I like to tell more about it. I am proud to belong to the Wadi stories of my people through my artwork." Wadi mob. I have been coming to TAFE for Gerald lives at Morwell in Gippsland in regional Victoria. His art practice covers various mediums. In 2005 he worked on a design that was used in a possum skin cloak for the Commonwealth Games. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Koorie Heritage Trust Acquisitive Award at the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards.
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Mick Harding Mick belongs to the Yowong-Illam-Baluk clan (Mansfield region) of the Taungwurrung people. He lives with his family in the rolling foothills of Gippsland’s Strzelecki ranges, a short drive from Morwell National Park, and is an active member of the Taungwurrung, local and Victorian indigenous communities.
"... our responsibility [is] to protect the land and maintain the intricate and delicate relationships that exist there."
From top: BIG FIRE DEAD REDBACK SPIDER Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm, $450 BIG FIRE DEAD BOGONG MOTH Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm, $450 BIG FIRE DEAD ROCK SCORPION Linocut print 2008, 44 x 51.5cm, $450
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From a very young age, Mick demonstrated a strong talent as a sketch artist. Through a journey of discovery about his own heritage and many years of honing his artistic talents, Mick has become a skilled artisan creating high quality works in his purpose built studioworkshop on the family property. Mick draws his inspiration from the compelling legends of his people, and weaves the images of those legends into each of his artworks. He creates unique woodcrafts and highly expressive canvases, and each piece is a unique original. After learning about his indigenous heritage, Mick set out on a journey of discovery that continues to this day. Through working closely with his own mob, the Taungwurrung 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 our responsibility to protect the land and maintain the intricate and delicate relationships that exist there. This learning can be seen in the artworks Mick creates, each linked to a legend and challenging the viewer to understand their place in the story.
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Patricia Harrison
TOURIST MISSION BAG Sedge grass 2009, 66 x 21cm, $690
"Her work pays tribute to her ancestors and cultural heritage.."
WIRE WOVEN BASKET Wire 2009, 53 x 53 x 52cm, $650
Patricia (Trisha) is a Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta woman raised in Dandenong. Trisha’s cultural skills as an indigenous basket weaver were passed down to her by her grandmother, Patricia Harrison Senior. Living with her Nan and Pop, Wally Mongta, there was no getting away from learning and helping with the weaving. Trisha studied under Patsy Harrison Senior all her life and has worked on many baskets with her Nan as well as conducting workshops across Victoria, museum demonstrations and cross-cultural workshops. Trisha’s work has been shown at Arts Victoria’s Deadly Expressions showcase in 2004, Tribal Expressions 2006 and Selling Yarns II and Walker Gallery in Dandenong in 2009. Baskets she has worked on with her grandmother are in the collections of Melbourne Museum and Koorie Heritage Trust and her own work is also in the collection of the Koorie Heritage Trust. Her work pays tribute to her ancestors and cultural heritage, while offering her own unique stamp on contemporary Aboriginal art.
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Coral Hayes
WATERHOLE DREAMING, Acrylic on canvas 2010, 100 x 100cm, $3250
"She believes she paints through her father and her grandmother's spirits. "
Coral is from the Yorta Yorta and Mutti-Mutti country in Victoria. She was born in Baranald NSW to Billy Hughes and Kathleen Smith Murray. Her mother’s totem is the Murray Cod, from the Mutti-Mutti people, and the long neck turtle, from the Yorta Yorta people which she is very proud to belong to. Her father was born in Alice Springs to the Arunta tribe. His mothers descendents and his skin name is ‘Ngwarre’. His totem is the green caterpillar known in Arunta as ‘Enterengetye’. Coral’s father’s people are very spiritual and proud people and her inspiration and unique painting skills come from her father and family from Alice Springs. She believes she paints through her father and her grandmother’s spirits. Her grandmothers are spirit women and her great grandmother was born with the birthmark of the Eagle on the side of her leg. Coral’s totem is the Eagle and her skin name is ‘Pananka’; the Arunta women have a different totem from the men for different reasons. She paints with pride and respect of her ancestors, who guide her in her paintings.
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Kamahi Djordon King "I paint these spiritual beings because I don't want them to be forgotten." “I was born in Katherine Northern Territory in 1972. I am a member of the Gurindji Tribe from the Fitzmaurice region. When we were growing up, our father Billy King, worked for a road construction company as a grader operator. This meant that a lot of the time we were out bush as he used to grade and cut the dirt roads that serviced the many SALTWATER SECTION C, Acrylic on linen 2009, 101 x 101cm, $2600 communities. Some of my motivation for my works come from the colours of the earth that were below the dry crust, only coming through after my father had taken off the top with his grader. The smell of the new earth along with the colours have been etched into my memories. I lived in Roper River (Ngukurr) in the NT and I can remember mucking around with paints from a young age. Old Ginger Riley lived there and we called him Uncle. He never painted back then though. I started painting properly when I was 17. Nearly twenty years ago. I have been painting ever since and have been influenced by great artists such as Peggy Patrick from the Kimberly region and Uncle Bill Harney from Katherine. I now live and work in Melbourne, Victoria. My fascination with the spiritual side of growing up came from living in the bush. Every time I would see a burnt tall tree with no leaves I would check it to see that it was just that, and not a Mimi spying on me. I paint these spiritual beings because I don’t want them to be forgotten. They are very mischievous in nature and have been said to be the original artists and they taught our ancestors to paint. My paintings have been sold and distributed throughout the world. Most recently two of my paintings were selected as gifts to present to the Vietnamese Government from the Miss Universe Finalist from Australia.”
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Elizabeth Liddle "This series of three photographs depict a simple cockatoo feather. The feather shows aspects of a feather that is not instantly recognisable, presented in forms not reflective of traditional perceptions of Indigenous culture. The images are contemporary and modern but also symbolic of the traditional. The representation of the cockatoo feather for me is symbolic of women's ceremony. The feathers form an important decorative and symbolic item within ceremony, reflecting my memories of being on country and with my mob. However the perspective depicted is incomplete, a partial view. The sulphur crested cockatoo is a social, family oriented bird preferring to live in large flocks. The feather symbolises my desire to be on country again." Elizabeth’s photographic work draws inspiration from the happenings of everyday life, from the eventful to the mundane. Her work comments on contemporary, historical and cultural issues and is influenced by her Arrernte and Alyawarre heritage. She works in still life, street photography and digital art and her current work reflects themes of colour and representation. Elizabeth has recently been exhibited in group shows at Brunswick St Gallery, Fitzroy and Gordon Gallery, Geelong. From top: SULPHER CRESTED COCKATOO FEATHER 57 x 80cm, $550 BABY COCKATOO FEATHER 80 x 57cm, $450 MATURE COCKATOO FEATHER 60 x 82cm, $450 All works digital photographs on metallic paper, 2009
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Helen Morris Helen is a Wotjobaluk woman who was born in 1968, adopted into a nonindigenous farming family and raised in the Wimmera. She was reunited with her natural mother and extended family at the age of seventeen. Helen has worked in nursing, retail, secretarial and hospitality roles. She has expressed her creativity through writing for many years and has recently taken up painting with a passion over the past twelve months. Helen believes her art is inspired strongly by her cross cultural heritage and her constant journey of learning incorporating both her past and present. Helen lives in Ballarat with her husband and two children.
KARMIC Acrylic on canvas 2009, 83.5 x 83.5cm, $3510
"I am not an artist. I am not a boxer, a spy or a tattooist. Being any of the above would be astounding, my short list of best career gets, though they are not who I have been or now am. A dishwasher, a uni student, a dole bludger, a secretary, a factory worker, a mistress, a nurse, an orphan, a checkout chick, a mother. These are definitions of me. Nothing, but nothing, has come to me so easily without effort or expectation, guilt or goading, desperation or desire, fear or fantasy, dreaming or deviation as does what I do now. For this reason alone I will take whatever it is that gifts me this moment for it is not of me but through me and who knows when it will take itself back. Like me, if it sits in your soul, you should get hold of it while you can."
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Jilalga Murray-Ranui
"The essence and the power of the sun, moon, and stars are imperative to Aboriginal peoples' existence and human life in general."
ME, MYSELF AND I #1 Acrylic on canvas 2009, 76 x 61cm, $1150
Jilalga is Nyangumarta, her skin group is Karrimarra. Her mother’s family is from the Pilbara, while her father is from the Riverine country of Victoria/New South Wales. She has spent the majority of her life living in Port Hedland, Western Australia, but has been fortunate enough to see a lot of Australia. Her contemporary Indigenous artworks have won her numerous awards. With a distinctive style, Jilalga conveys a feeling of warmth and vibrancy to whatever she creates and is very passionate about her work and hopes people can feel the spirit and energy in her pieces. The essence and the power of the sun, moon, and stars are imperative to Aboriginal peoples’ existence and human life in general. Jilalga recently exhibited a solo show at the Koorie Heritage Trust exploring her Koorie heritage.
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Janet Ogston
FLASH FISH Acrylic on paper 2009, 59 x 69cm, $450
" I love to go down to the water and think about my childhood and the things we did." “I have ancestry from the Wodi Wodi people in New South Wales. I like to paint and draw and think about my ancestors It makes me feel good and happy and it brings out feelings and thoughts of my child hood . My dad was a fisherman and as kids use to always go with him and help him pulling the nets in full of fish then we would go to the market and sell them. We would go to the lakes with a net and scoop the prawns all the relations used to come we would have a ball. I love to go down to the water and think about my childhood and the things we did. We would eat oysters off the rocks when the tide was out we would have to use a rock and chip them open they were so nice to eat.�
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Patricia Pittman
YUIN DREAMING Acrylic on paper 2009, 88 x 64cm, $700
Patricia has recently moved back to her home country of the Yuin on the south coast of New South Wales. Prior to that she lived in regional Victoria at Morwell in Gippsland where she had been studying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural art at Gippstafe Koorie Unit.
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Wayne Quilliam
AISAHA Digital print 2009, 140 x 90cm, $6500
KUWARRA Digital print 2009, 140 x 90cm, $6500
"To interpret my work is akin to demystifying the link between myth and reality, the process of covering and uncovering the human element of nature; to find depth, meaning and perhaps even a revelation that we are all the vision of a 'creator'. I'm intrigued by the differing perceptions of indigenous art and the role it plays in modern society, my camera is a tool, and my cultural spirituality is my guide." Wayne radically alters the perception of Australian Indigenous art, deconstructing the idea that it exists solely in remote communities. Encapsulated by the spirituality of nature, the artist deliberately covers and exposes photographs to reveal tensions between the act of representation and reality, manifesting his unique vision of cultural art through contemporary abstract images that analyse and decipher notions of ‘Aboriginality’ to challenge and engage the viewer. Traditional Aboriginal stories and tales have influenced Wayne’s work to become increasingly intense, mysterious, and probing.
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Irene Ridgeway
JUST FOR THE RECORD Mixed media print 2009, 88 x 64cm, $850
"I am a descendant of the Awabikal Tribe in the greater Hunter Valley area. I originally came from Newcastle, New South Wales where I lived a good half of my life. My immediate family and I decided to settle in Traralgon four years ago and have remained here since. I have worked in a variety of different media and styles - painting, wood burning, jewellery, etching - and love working with every one of them. My art reflects my dreaming and who I am as an Aboriginal woman, it expresses my soul and inner feelings of my cultural heritage. I have always drawn and had a hand in working with wood but only recently have I started making Koorie jewellery. I now attend GippsTAFE Morwell doing Certificate III in Cultural Art where I am learning printmaking and discovering more about my art. I love doing what I do because it reflects who I am and what I stand for, and mostly my dreaming." PaRing
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"I love doing what I do because it reflects who I am and what I stand for, and mostly my dreaming."
Jenny (Tweety) Solomon
BOGONG MOTHS Acrylic and pastel on paper 2009, 49 x 64cm, $450
"My name is Jenny G Solomon but I use my the Bogong moth and how it was a food nickname on my artwork because I was named source for my father's people. I was fascinated after my mother. I was born in Orbost, East with its beautiful patterns and colours. My Gippsland. My father is from Monero and my ancestors would find them in caves and rock mother is from Dainghetti, NSW. I am a single crevices, and then use a smouldering piece of brushwood to suffocate them parent raising two girls, work as a Koorie Teachers Aide and this "My ancestors so they would fall into their catchers made of kangaroo skin, year enrolled to study Aboriginal would find and Torres Strait Islander Cultural bark and nets made of Kurrajong them in caves fibre. A space is cleared on the Arts. I've wanted to do this course ground for a fire. When the for a long time and now I'm finally and rock ground is hot enough, the fire doing it. I also use to work for crevices ..." and ashes are cleared away then BYNM Indigenous Designs and it the moths are placed on the hot was there that my artwork started to develop. Ever since I've wanted to learn ground until the legs and wings are singed other different types of art. I have completed off. Then the ashes and dirt are brushed off four paintings this year which are about my the bodies and eaten as they are or mashed father's background. From the research I've and made into moth meat patties. They say done I have found a lot of information about the moth has a nutty taste to it, like walnuts."
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Peter Waples-Crowe "I am a contemporary artist with Indigenous (Ngarigo Language group) and nonindigenous ancestors. My art like me, is about how my identities play out in my contemporary Australian urban environment under influences of traditional Aboriginal culture, pop art, street art, subcultures, humour and the craft/art debate. My art plays with my place in the world at any one time and it is heavily influenced by my different heritages (Aboriginal, English and Irish) and working in the Aboriginal community here in Victoria. It is a reflection and reaction to the notion of what being an Aboriginal artist is, beyond all the stereotypes and labels." GOLDEN Mixed media print 2010, 84 x 59cm, $676
Peter was born in Sydney in 1965 and raised in Wollongong where he completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Wollongong University in 1989. A descendent of the Wiradjuri and Ngarigo nations, his works - which combine figurative elements with symbolic motifs - are a means by which he can explore his sense of connectedness with his ancestral lands. They also express his concerns about the contemporary challenges Indigenous people face, and are informed by the knowledge and experience he has gained from working in the area of Indigenous health with communities in New South Wales and Victoria, where he now lives. He has been selected for the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (2005 & 2006), and the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards in 2008. PaRing
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SHEEP HUNT Mixed media print 2010, 84 x 59cm $676
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Lisa Waup
ENTANGLED HISTORY Embossed metal, stitching and transparency paper 2009, 28.5 x 54cm, $1950
"She uses different art forms and mixed mediums to depict who she is and her journey of experiences as a member of the stolen generation..."
Lisa is a Victorian Indigenous artist. She uses different art forms and mixed mediums to depict who she is and her journey of experiences as a member of the stolen generation and wife to an indigenous Papua New Guinean tribal leader with his rich culture. She has studied in various institutes in Melbourne and Papua New Guinea (PNG), lecturing in photography and printmaking at the University of Papua New Guinea, in Port Moresby. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally in solo, and group exhibitions. Both Lisa and her husband (Naup Waup) have been working on a project for the last fifteen years entitled The Pariet Project. The Pariet Project is a social mapping research of PNG’s remote tribal communities that gathers indigenous traditional cultural knowledge and empowers these communities to address issues that affect them. Lisa’s work has become a voice for the Pariet Project, expressing issues that affect the Indigenous communities. Her work and collection have grown with the project through experience and knowledge in a journey of reflection and embrace.
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Gloria Whalan
"I knew I was different from the other children as my heart was in the bush, the land and the animals."
WETLANDS AT SALE Acrylic on paper 2009, 69 x 59cm $600
“Been living in Gippsland for years. My age is 65 and I am part of the stolen generation. I was reared by my grandmother who was white. I did not know I was Koorie till I was 49. My people are the Wiradjuri from NSW. I started drawing with charcoal from the fire at an early age. I knew I was different from the other children as my heart was in the bush, the land and the animals. I was deserted at the age of 27 and I had six children between the ages 1-9. I painted pictures to get money for food and eventually I started my own business teaching drawing and folk art. I have been a foster parent for thirty years and have been teaching them to use art to relax. My first love is art and I paint about many things such as my dreaming, land, animals and humans. My large family encourage and support me in what I do. I have exhibited paintings in galleries in recent years and I am currently writing children’s books. I am also doing an art course at the Gippstafe, Morwell.�
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Sales Enquiries for any of the works in the catalogue can be made by contacting Ken Wong on 0419 570 846 or via email info@watcharts.com.au
If you are interested in becoming involved in the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery program or wish to be added to our mailing list to be kept informed of upcoming events, email info@watcharts.com.au or visit www.watcharts.com.au/toyota.html or phone 03 58214548.