Walpa Winaka (To Burn and Leave) #1, 2020
acrylic on canvas, 120 x 200 cm
Burning the land removes toxins and
growth inhibitors which in turn allows our country to regenerate and remain
healthy. We can use the same method in our lives like a seasonal burn to
achieve the same outcome.
At times, burning off in our mind and
our lives will see the loss of possessions, relationships and sometimes even
family members. However, in time they will be replaced with something
healthier.
SOLD
Walpa Winaka (To Burn and Leave) #2, 2020
acrylic on canvas, 120 x 200 cm
Burning the land removes toxins and
growth inhibitors which in turn allows our country to regenerate and remain
healthy. We can use the same method in our lives like a seasonal burn to
achieve the same outcome.
At times, burning off in our mind and
our lives will see the loss of possessions, relationships and sometimes even
family members. However, in time they will be replaced with something
healthier.
SOLD
Walpa Winaka (To Burn and Leave) #3, 2020
acrylic on canvas, 120 x 200 cm
Burning the land removes toxins and
growth inhibitors which in turn allows our country to regenerate and remain
healthy. We can use the same method in our lives like a seasonal burn to
achieve the same outcome.
At times, burning off in our mind and
our lives will see the loss of possessions, relationships and sometimes even
family members. However, in time they will be replaced with something
healthier.
SOLD
Walpa Winaka (To Burn and Leave) #4, 2020
acrylic on canvas, 120 x 200 cm
Burning the land removes toxins and
growth inhibitors which in turn allows our country to regenerate and remain
healthy. We can use the same method in our lives like a seasonal burn to
achieve the same outcome.
At times, burning off in our mind and
our lives will see the loss of possessions, relationships and sometimes even
family members. However, in time they will be replaced with something
healthier.
Jackie WIRRAMANDA
Dillybag #1
2020
acrylic on canvas, 56.5 x 69.5 cm
AUD $1700
Dillybags were an
item used in every day tasks. Often used to carry important objects, whether it
be food, tools or weapons. In this case the symbolism of the dilly bag is to
also carry, hold and keep safe important stories. In the same way food,
sustenance and nourishment were carried. As weaving was passed down to the next
generation so to were the important cultural stories.
AVAILABLE
Jackie WIRRAMANDA
Dillybag #2
2020
acrylic on canvas, 56.5 x 69.5 cm
AUD $1700
Dillybags were an
item used in every day tasks. Often used to carry important objects, whether it
be food, tools or weapons. In this case the symbolism of the dilly bag is to
also carry, hold and keep safe important stories. In the same way food,
sustenance and nourishment were carried. As weaving was passed down to the next
generation so to were the important cultural stories.
AVAILABLE
Jackie WIRRAMANDA
Walking on Country
2020
acrylic on canvas, 158 x 206 cm
AUD $6500
Clay balls were used to put in a fire
to cook with. My grandmother showed me how to cook fish in clay. Our connection
to country is strong. All these things are connected. These are important
cultural methods that need to be passed down. The dillybags that I paint in my
artwork, always represent stories being carried. Stories are held safe in the
dilly bag and only pulled out and talked about when the time is right.
AVAILABLE
Jackie WIRRAMANDA
Warrior Miminis
2020
acrylic on canvas, 218.5 x 204.5 cm
AUD $8900
When the men were away from camp. The
Women Warriors would be in charge of taking care of the vulnerable. They stood
with their fighting sticks ready. The strength was not only in their physique
but also in their minds.
AVAILABLE
Jackie WIRRAMANDA
Weaving on Country
2020
acrylic on canvas, 150 x 205 cm
AUD $6200
My grandmother was a skilled weaver.
She told stories while she weaved and passed on her knowledge, this was an
important time. When connection to family, culture and to country grew strong.
'Respect your surroundings out here', she said. I always will
AVAILABLE
11 Nov - 28 Nov 2020
Robby Wirramanda :
Walpa Winaka
(To Burn and Leave)
Burning the land removes toxins and growth inhibitors which in turn allows our country to regenerate and remain healthy. We can use the same method in our lives like a seasonal burn to achieve the same outcome.
At times, burning off in our mind and our lives will see the loss of possessions, relationships and sometimes even family members. However, in time they will be replaced with something healthier.
Robbie Wirramanda, 2020
My series of paintings pay homage to my grandmothers. Their stories have been passed down through storytelling whilst practicing weaving and have been re-whispered through the winds and the rustling of the trees. I paint their stories through my art.
Jackie Wirramanda, 2020
Metro Gallery is pleased to present 'Walpa Winaka (To Burn and Leave)', an exhibition of recent paintings by Robby Wirramanda and Jackie Wirramanda.
Robby Wirramanda, an artist from Chinkapook in Central Victoria, is a rising star within the Australian Contemporary Art scene. With a lyrical treatment of line reminiscent of George Tjungurrayi, Wirramanda frequently paints the salt flats of Lake Tyrrell near where he grew up.
What perhaps sets his work apart from many of his contemporaries is his emphasis on the parallel between the land and his own psyche. Although many Indigenous Australian artists – and indeed many landscape artists from the Western Canon – have explored this dichotomy before, few have done so as overtly as Wirramanda. Many of his canvasses can be read as veritable mind maps, topographical depictions of the land and natural processes that mirror his own emotional state.
Within the context of his own life, which has not been without grief and trauma, these vast canvasses become even more dynamic and emotionally intriguing. His depictions of bushfires, for example, can be simultaneously read as a stylized illustration of a natural event, and as a metaphor for the inner workings of his own mind. It is ambiguous, however, whether this burning suggests rejuvenation and psychological rebirth, (one thinks of regrowth flora after a bushfire) or of trauma and hardship. Perhaps both. Wirramanda’s genius lies in his ability to align the land and its near alchemic processes with human emotions generally, and his own specifically.
In 'Walpa Winaka ( To burn and leave) #3', Wirramanda has composed a deceptively simple arrangement. On one half are swirling lines of light blue and yellow, moving across the canvas like a shore at high tide. From the right comes a similar pattern in pinks and whites, meeting in the middle where, cutting through the centre of the image like a grand river is a collection of dark red lines.
Taken literally, this piece could be read as a topographical view of a bushfire: the pink and blue lines suggesting dried up bush and regrowth respectively and the central red line functioning as a motif for the approaching inferno.
Purely within these parameters, the painting is startlingly bold. Wirramanda has pushed representative painting to its limits, capturing the essence of his subject almost to the point of pure abstraction.
By painting the fire from the top of the canvas to the bottom, Wirramanda creates an intense sense of claustrophobia. The implication is that the inferno is inescapable, instilling within the viewer a sense of respect and awe for the natural world.
As in most of Wirramanda’s work, there is a psychological parallel to this interpretation, suggestive of a “come what may” attitude to life.
Julius Killerby, 2020
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