Adnate’s works are always collaborative. Whether he’s working with a subject for his portraiture, a wider community for his public art murals, or, as in this case, an artist, Nickolla Clark, a young Arakwal woman of the Bundjalung Nation, whom they met while both residing in the beautiful Byron Shire. Clark’s mark-making becomes the background, a setting, a placemaking of sorts, waving strongly against the semi-obscured face of Adnate’s proud man.

"Then and Now" draws out the future, one of self-determination, a response to Indigenous struggles, from the memebers of the community themselves. The emotional depth of the work comes from a speaking-to not only to the past, but to the enduring strength and resilience of Indigenous communities in the face of the horrfiic events there mob has suffered. It attempts not only to offer a vision of empowerment and hope (while it does do that) but attempts to slowly mark the ongoing journey of reclaiming identity and culture, standing as a testament to the continuing fight for justice and recognition.