Outdoor Gallery

Artist: Tai Bobongie

Tai Bobongie is a young Indigenous and Māori photographer based in Brisbane. His event-based photography practice is predominately focused on music festivals, although has also captured a wide range of other events, artworks, performances, studio and school programs across Queensland.

Artwork statement

Maiwar represents the life force of the city. The Brisbane River has always been a significant feature as it provides the sustenance for all living things. Whilst it divides Brisbane’s North and South, all that come to the city must acknowledge the beauty of the Brisbane River.

Artist: Taliah Saylor

Taliah Saylor is of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander heritage. Born in Brisbane, she is an emerging visual artist whose artwork has developed over the past eight years and expresses her connection to Country and her people.

Artwork statement

The Way of the Beizam represents the importance of our waterways and the life within it. The Beizam (sharks) represent the bull sharks that live in the Brisbane River. They are critical to the environmental sustainability of our ecosystems, ensuring our waterways and river systems are clean and healthy. They maintain a natural equilibrium, keeping the aquatic habitat in balance. This representation of the bull sharks connects beyond the boundaries of the Brisbane River, as these sharks swim through the many Pacific Ocean currents, hunting and corralling schools of fish.

The woven palm fronds that flow through the centre of the image portray Taliah’s connection to the water through her saltwater heritage as a Torres Strait and Palm Island woman. They bind the connection between her waters and Brisbane’s waterways.

Artist: Lewis James Bin Doraho

Lewis James Bin Doraho is a creative freelance photographer and videographer based in Brisbane. Since turning his self-taught photography practice into a business in 2014, Lewis has been capturing social history including cultural events, community, celebrations and life, using Brisbane as his blank canvas.

Artwork statement

This is Brisbane is an opportunity to view this beautiful city through Lewis’ lens. The Aboriginal flag seen from above, at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane highlights the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Brisbane and the significance of this location to them.

Artist: Luke Mallie

Luke Mallie is of both Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent with ties to the Kuku Yalanji Nation in the Daintree, North of Cairns, North Queensland, and from Kubin Village on Moa Island in the Torres Strait Islands. With a Bachelor of Fine Art (majoring in painting) and a Bachelor of Multimedia Studies, Luke’s drive to create stems from knowing his artwork inspires and empowers others to discover something amazing in their own lives and perform to their full potential.

Artwork statement

River of Life explores the relationship between the land and people before white settlement in this country. The artwork shares a story of the intertwining people, land and water systems. The black and white elements represent The Dreamtime that then comes to life through colour in the subsequent pieces. The colour builds connection and strengthens communities in a cyclical form as ‘The River if Life’ is never-ending and eternal.

Artist: Kylie Hill

Kylie Hill is a proud Aboriginal woman from the Kalkadoon and Waanyi mob from Far North Queensland and Mount Isa, living in the wider Brisbane area. Together with her family, Kylie has painted many murals and designed various artworks that have been shared all over the world. She also designs artworks for Reconciliation Action Plans, fashion and homeware products, as well as for sorry business within communities.

Artist statement

Family Connections represents family coming together as one mob. A spiritual family connection journey through the healing waters of our waters.

Artist: Dean Tyson

Dean Tyson is a celebrated Goori (Aboriginal) artist living in South East Queensland. Honouring his ancestors and family through his art, career and within community, belonging to the Meerooni tribe of Gurang Nation and Ngugi tribe of Quandamooka Nation. As an artist, he shares his knowledge and a Goori way of thinking.

Artwork statement

Whichway the old ways honours the tribal lands and waters of Brisbane and gives cultural respect for the contemporary city and surrounding suburbia. Footprints represent the old people, the Traditional Owners of Brisbane and visiting tribes that travel between important places and sites. Artefacts, mangroves and animals can also be seen as shimmering apparitions, applied in a silhouette style, representative of the old ways. The rising sun in the East, a blood moon and morning star are directional but more importantly, are present as reminders of the ancestors’ land, to uphold the lore and never forget the past whilst moving forward into the future. Hence the question, ‘Whichway the old waters ways?’.

Artist: Ben Barker

Ben Barker is a contemporary Aboriginal artist that believes art is the glue that bonds culture to the physical world. He describes his artwork as contemporary dreaming art, inviting viewers to experience their own dreaming and evoking a natural awakening.

Artwork statement

River Dreaming is the energy that connects us to the Dreamtime Serpent life, giving waves of energy and bringing growth and new experiences. This energy sustains community and the environment. Pure elements in nature attract us to places where the dreaming is strong and reflects the creation Serpent in its form. These elements are what make up our bodies. We wash ourselves in the river of dreaming and shed our skin to start a new day.

Artist: Brett Leavy

Brett Leavy is an Australian artist and the founder of Bilby XR Labs, an innovative company that creates cutting-edge immersive experiences using virtual and augmented reality technologies. With a background in both art and technology, he has been at the forefront of digital art for over two decades, exhibiting around the world and winning awards.

Artwork statement

Greater Brisbane 1798 displays cultural heritage sites in the city of Brisbane that have a significant connection to the Yuggera peoples who have lived there for thousands of years.

Using Aboriginal iconography to represent the known places of continued connection to Country, including sacred sites and ceremonial grounds, the map acknowledges the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander culture and knowledge in the preservation of cultural heritage.

Activate Maiwar AR, created by Brett Leavy and Bilby XR Labs
Maiwar AR is an animated virtual tour that transports users back in time to Brisbane prior to First Settlement. Experience a day-in-the-life of the original custodians of this land.

To launch the experience and view the 360-degree animated video, either scan the QR code at Brett’s work in Gifffin Lane with your device, or visit the virtual tour website.

Artist: Paula Dewis

Paula Dewis is of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Malayan heritage. Paula’s father’s heritage is of the Boigu Island, in the Torres Straits (Malu Kiwai – Kalau Kawau Ya language group) and her mother’s grandmother is of Aboriginal heritage with traditional connections to the Wuthathi Clan, Cape York in Queensland.

Artwork statement

Many Lands acknowledges the connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities continue to have to the land, waters, seas and environment. They have these connections regardless of the diversity and complexities of their stories, dance, beliefs, values, customs and ceremonies which are practiced, preserved and promoted through their kinship systems for thousands of years.

Artist:

Nicole Williams calls Cairns home although she has been living in Brisbane for the past 10 years. Her family connected her to Kuku Djungan Country in Far North Queensland, Ugar (Stephen Island) in the Torres Strait, Daly River Mob in the Northern Territory and Burketown/Doomadgee in Northwest Queensland.

Nicole is a multidisciplinary artist working across all forms of art - design, printmaking, poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Her art practice aims to share love, stir the pot, challenge people’s ideas and tackle complacency wherever it lurks.

Artwork statement

Reflections is a representation of time and space, using circles as a metaphor for the cycles of life on the meandering river. It is a story about connection and reconnection with our waterways, as the vehicle for that journey.