‍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

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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.‍

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Julius Killerby, 2020‍

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ROBBY WIRRAMANDA

Robby is a former super-heavy weight world champion fighter who reconnected with his passion for art within his 4-year prison sentence.

Robby is a symbol of strength and hope to many inmates due to his success as an artist/singer/songwriter and his unrelenting dedication to culture, community and family.

Within his own community, Robby continues to emerge as a leader through his work at First Peoples of the Millewa Mallee, where he is developing many initiatives centred around cultural rehabilitation for Indigenous offenders.

Earlier this year, Robby made global head-lines and coined the now famous#toostrongforyoukaren hash tag after an incident with a neighbour went viral.

Robby is the Co-Producer and Writer of the upcoming film directed by AlexSiddons titled 'The Art of Incarceration'. National release date coming soon, please see a short synopsis and a link to the film's website below:

'Seen through the eyes of indigenous prisoner sat Victoria’s Fulham Correctional Centre, The Art of Incarceration explores how art and culture can empower First Nations people to transcend unjust cycles of imprisonment.’ Read more here.

JACKIE WIRRAMANDA

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.