Opening of the Brain Injury exhibition at the Manning Regional Art Gallery 09.12.23

Manning River Times

Opening of the Brain Injury exhibition at the Manning Regional Art Gallery

Transcript

00:00 came to us through Cynthia Burke, the curator of the show.

00:03 Cynthia has a big passion for this,

00:07 and this is a conversation that she wants us all to have.

00:10 It's something that, it's an exhibition that explores

00:15 how the artists see the world after brain injury.

00:19 The featured artists are Cynthia Burke,

00:21 Jen Burns, Jamie Dadot, Peter Davidson,

00:27 Gillian Oliver, Scott Pollock, and Mark Whale.

00:31 It is so fantastic to meet them all.

00:35 I was privileged to meet most of the artists yesterday,

00:38 and to hear their stories and to hear their journey.

00:41 They're all very different journeys,

00:43 and that's what I think is actually

00:45 one of the real successes of it,

00:47 is that there are so many different people

00:49 affected by brain injury.

00:51 And it's a silent, it's almost a silent disease,

00:56 a brain disease injury where you don't know

01:01 that somebody has it until you have that conversation

01:05 with them or know their past or know their history.

01:07 We're very privileged to have Peter Rutherford

01:12 officially open the exhibition,

01:14 so I'd like Peter to come forward and say a few words.

01:19 Where, where, Peter's right, cool.

01:21 So come and say a few words, please.

01:25 (papers rustling)

01:28 - Hi, ladies and gentlemen.

01:31 I suppose to put it in perspective to where I fit in.

01:36 So I was in the Defense Force for nearly 30 years,

01:39 and on my last tour of Afghanistan,

01:41 I was in a helicopter crash on the 21st of June, 2010.

01:45 Out of that crash, I broke most of the major bones

01:48 in my body, had significant damage to my organs as well,

01:53 but I was left with a frontal lobe bleed.

01:55 So whilst I was trying to recover from the injury,

01:58 I was trying to understand it.

01:59 For a long time, I actually thought I was dead

02:02 and I was in hell.

02:03 So I couldn't, you know,

02:04 the injuries were part of being in hell.

02:06 So it was an interesting evolution

02:08 with learning about myself

02:10 and where I fit into the world.

02:12 So it was really quite an honor to be asked

02:14 to be involved in this today,

02:16 and I'll explain a few things as I go along a bit later.

02:19 There'll only be a couple of minutes.

02:21 But first, like all things,

02:23 I've got a bit of a story to tell.

02:25 So after I got wounded,

02:26 there was a lot of media interest

02:28 in my particular injury and my rehabilitation

02:32 because of the amount of injuries I had

02:34 and with the brain injury.

02:36 And I was starting to sort of make a bit of a name

02:39 for myself in the adaptive sport environment

02:41 and competing overseas.

02:43 And I was reached out to by Ben Quilley.

02:46 So Ben Quilley had wanted to paint me

02:50 and had asked the Australian Defence Force

02:51 if I would be a part of this exhibition.

02:54 So they flew me over.

02:55 I was living in WA.

02:57 I flew over to Sydney.

02:59 They picked me up and took me to Robinson.

03:01 I went up to Robinson and I spent some time with Ben

03:04 and it was creepy as hell.

03:05 (audience laughing)

03:06 So if you've ever been to Ben's gallery up there,

03:11 we walk in, Ben's a fantastic guy.

03:13 And he says to me, "Okay, Pete, you know,

03:15 "like this is the gallery,

03:16 "you know, this is where I do my painting,

03:17 "this is where these are,

03:18 "these are my scrappy vehicles and all this sort of stuff."

03:20 And he goes, "Okay, buddy, what I want you to do

03:22 "is I want you to look up at the top there,

03:23 "you know, just look there, take all your clothes off,

03:27 "just hold your stick and look over there for me."

03:30 And I have this look and I'm like, "What?"

03:32 (audience laughing)

03:33 "You want me to tackle out?"

03:34 And he's like, "Yeah."

03:34 (audience laughing)

03:36 And then there's all these other pictures.

03:38 There was six other people that painted.

03:41 One of the ladies, she had her brace out

03:42 and all that sort of stuff.

03:43 And I knew her and I'm like, "That's different."

03:45 (audience laughing)

03:46 And then one of the guys who was there

03:48 was actually one of the soldiers I served in Afghanistan.

03:50 A really good friend of mine.

03:51 And he's on his back and he tackles out as well.

03:54 (audience laughing)

03:55 And 'cause I'm like, "Oh, this is getting a bit weird now."

03:58 So I've done it on the phone with my mate

03:59 and I said, "What's the crack?"

04:00 You know, like you tackle out in the picture.

04:02 You know, like, "Did you lay there for hours

04:04 "while Ben looked at your doodle?"

04:05 (audience laughing)

04:06 You know, and he's going, "Oh man, do you remember

04:07 "when we were in Afghanistan and, you know,

04:09 "we had the Taliban up firing and we were behind

04:11 "this big log and everybody's shooting over the top of us?"

04:14 And I'm like, "Yeah, but I'm sure you were dressed, eh?"

04:16 (audience laughing)

04:19 So I said to Ben, you know, "Last time I thought,

04:20 "you know, all the protagonists in war wore clothes.

04:22 "I thought I was going to wear all this army stuff

04:24 "and, you know, do this really cool Afghan stuff.

04:26 "I didn't realise it was tackled out."

04:28 So what I did, I compromised, I wore shorts.

04:31 'Cause Ben wanted to show the scars across my body.

04:34 Unfortunately, or fortunately, my body is littered

04:36 with scars across my back and my legs

04:38 and everything like that.

04:40 And I have a significant hole in my leg

04:41 from my rifle on impact, so I had to cut through my leg

04:45 and put a hole through my leg.

04:46 It's a cool scar, it looks like sharks, doesn't it?

04:48 So we don't attack all of them.

04:49 My kids love to stick their finger in the hole.

04:51 (audience laughing)

04:53 So that was my introduction to art.

04:55 So Ben painted me and I got to go all around Australia.

04:58 We look at something, we take so much pleasure

04:59 in looking at a painting, looking at water,

05:02 looking at anything.

05:03 You know, there's so much pleasure.

05:04 When you have a brain injury,

05:06 you see the world very, very differently.

05:08 You know, you hate more, you love more, you taste more,

05:11 everything you do is more,

05:12 and you're trying to co-locate those feelings

05:14 into trying to explain it to someone.

05:18 It's weird, and art gives an opportunity

05:21 for you to really bring out what is inside your headspace.

05:24 You know, in all those crazy directions I've went.

05:26 And without me going too long,

05:28 so when I was in a hospital bed, I was in Westmead,

05:31 I went from Germany in a hospital,

05:33 then I went to Westmead, then I went to a military hospital,

05:35 then I went to another hospital in WA

05:37 over a period of time.

05:38 The one constant in my life was to wake up

05:40 and look at a wall, a white wall, up all the time.

05:44 And that's all I ever did.

05:45 There was nothing else in there.

05:47 And it's funny how you can look,

05:50 when you have a brain injury,

05:51 you can look at an object and see something different in it

05:54 every time you see it.

05:55 You know, those dots, they would align

05:57 to make them look like clouds,

05:58 or look like a kangaroo, or look like something.

06:00 And it was amazing, and in the end,

06:02 I actually started to appreciate

06:04 how my mind was so different,

06:06 and how I was seeing the world around me

06:08 when I was really looking at nothing.

06:10 So I suppose what I really want to bring to it,

06:12 when you have an artist who has a brain injury

06:15 and creates something so beautiful,

06:17 if, so I wrote this down before,

06:19 and this, I wish it was mine, but it wasn't.

06:22 You know, somebody sent this back to me in time,

06:24 and it really resonated with me,

06:26 that I see art as a coalition of feelings and emotions

06:30 to produce an effect.

06:32 So when I sat down and I really thought about that,

06:35 what does art bring to me?

06:36 I am not an artist.

06:37 I cannot paint, I cannot draw.

06:39 You know, I see things, I think, differently,

06:42 which I think is an art and a beauty in itself,

06:44 but I cannot create what you create,

06:47 but I can appreciate what you create,

06:49 and I can see the depth and the knowledge

06:51 and the passion, which brings me so much joy.

06:54 When I see it in the really strange shit

06:57 that happens inside my headspace,

07:00 I love it so much more, and I feel the passion in it.

07:02 So that's what makes art enduring and lovely and fantastic.

07:06 And I think that when you walk through in there,

07:09 you know, and you see those different expressions of art,

07:11 and the different injuries that accumulated

07:14 to what was put on the wall in there,

07:16 it makes it so beautiful.

07:18 So with that, I would really like to say a big thank you

07:23 to the gallery staff, particularly Rachel and Jane,

07:27 and all of the volunteers.

07:29 And the really big one is,

07:30 we always forget our volunteers these days.

07:32 Every time we try to do something.

07:34 So I'm an ambassador right across

07:35 different platforms in this country.

07:37 Now, there's so many different organisations,

07:40 you can never find a volunteer.

07:42 Right, they are becoming so hard

07:43 because time is the most precious thing we have.

07:45 So make sure that we recognise our volunteers.

07:48 Yeah, our volunteers.

07:50 Yes, very much so.

07:51 I was gonna clap, but I'm almost done.

07:52 (audience laughing)

07:54 But yeah, really appreciate those people,

07:57 and especially the volunteers.

07:58 We can never say enough about the people

08:00 who give their time up for others.

08:02 Also, the artists themselves,

08:05 for embracing the concept so well,

08:09 and the enthusiasm, and their willingness

08:11 to share personal stories.

08:13 When you have a brain injury,

08:14 it is received in so many different ways.

08:17 Some people are great, they're so accepting,

08:20 they're interested in the story,

08:21 and other people aren't these days.

08:23 All you gotta do is open your social media

08:25 and find the left and right of arc is so crazy.

08:28 So amazing thing for the people

08:30 to give up their stories, and the lovely stories,

08:32 and in some states, tragic stories around.

08:35 So Catherine, a huge well done for backing up

08:40 Cynthia's vision of the exhibition,

08:45 and making it happen, bringing it into reality.

08:48 Also, while I'm at it, there's a number of people

08:50 that need, or people and SLAM organisations.

08:52 What have we got?

08:57 We've got Barrier Signs, Daniel Roberts,

09:01 Friends of the Manning Art Gallery,

09:04 or Regional Art Gallery, the retreat I'm staying at,

09:07 by the way, if there's anybody there,

09:08 absolutely amazing, great.

09:11 Nanda, Nandu Bar, sorry.

09:14 - Nundu Bar.

09:15 (audience laughing)

09:16 I was having a pita moment, and I was really,

09:18 I didn't wanna get that one wrong.

09:19 We haven't stayed there, seriously,

09:21 we've stayed there, that was amazing.

09:23 The Tari Artist Inc., and also Helga Visser,

09:28 hope I got that right, darling, and Yvette Ugal.

09:33 Right, so there's just a big thank you for them,

09:35 and passing on all those thanks.

09:37 And I suppose lastly on that,

09:40 I hope everybody really enjoys the art as much as I have.

09:43 I hope that it continues on for the next two months,

09:46 you know, hundreds of people coming through

09:48 to really appreciate what's done here,

09:50 and an amazing thing to Tari, who I have,

09:53 my kids were both christened here,

09:54 my family, my wife's family come from here,

09:57 so it's a beautiful place, and I'm really appreciative

10:00 that you guys have had me,

10:01 and asked me to come here for that.

10:02 Thank you.

10:03 (coughing)

10:06 (laughing)

10:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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