He's one of Australia's most popular artists, but you've never seen the works of Vincent Namatjira on this scale. Namatjira has created 'King Dingo', a depiction of the protector totem and symbol of indigenous power, to be projected onto the museum of contemporary art for VIVID Sydney.
00:00To me, it is explosive and it's new, it's the biggest scale I've ever seen in my career.
00:12What is the symbolism for the dingo in colonial regalia?
00:16The symbol for dingo is power, resilience and strength.
00:20King dingo to me represents protector of the land and the king is a reversal kind of place
00:27where I put my perspective of indigenous to the colonial perspective.
00:33And the dingo is your totem. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
00:36The totem is a dreaming. It's a dreaming that all of us indigenous and Torres Strait people have throughout our religion.
00:44I see myself looking back at me while I'm looking at it, a reflection.
00:50I like to paint the dingo. The dog is the man's best friend.
00:54That's why I like to paint the dingo and place it on a large scale of this building
00:59and just make myself proud of my painting and who I am today.
01:04This is my dream. The dream of me having King dingo for all indigenous and Torres Strait people for this country.
01:13And this is the site where the First Fleet landed in 1788 and now we're seeing King dingo in the spotlight.
01:19Tell me how that feels.
01:21It levels everything. It feels like it's leveled, bringing two heads together.
01:28You see the landscape, the outback, the country is well known for my great grandfather, Albert Namajir.
01:34He's a famous watercolourist and also he likes to paint Australia.
01:39And I just want to put King dingo and put the uniforms on this dingo that symbolises the colonial Captain James Cook and the first invasion of Australia.
01:51It is about reversal power. It's just like bringing everyone to the same level on the stage.
01:58Some say your work is satirical and witty. How would you describe your artwork?
02:03My work is humour. Humour and I like to see people's faces when they see my work. It's just a big smile on their face.
02:13The characters really do come alive for this. Tell me a little bit about the narrative.
02:17It takes me back to Walt Disney.
02:20Walt Disney where the cartoon becomes real. It's thanks to Electric Canvas.
02:26I've worked for four months to get this up and going and it took a lot of effort to get paintings done.
02:35You paint over the crowns and then it becomes the flag. What was your message here?
02:39Well I painted gold because gold is a mining place and we sometimes do mining in Australia country.
02:47That's why there's some gold mines around here, especially in the Queensland area, Mayaniser somewhere around there.
02:53That's why I just wanted to paint gold and gold is very valuable to me and also my painting.
02:59We're coming up to Reconciliation Week, a time where we share culture.
03:03Can you tell me a little bit about your thoughts for where we are as a country?
03:07We have to come together and we have to stand up and be, we have to be who we are.
03:15And we have to be proud of who we are.
03:18People who come to see this vivid light show, what do you want them to take away from it?
03:22I want to see them knocked off with their socks, to see it was wonderful work here.
03:26And also just to have a sense of humour and wit.
03:31You've gone this big, what next?
03:33The next thing for me is, I always wanted to be like my great-grandfather up in Amajira,
03:39to receive the coronation medal. That's next for me.
03:43And then for me.
03:44For so many years, when you've done this kayak, you statistics day.
03:47And this is a Sagittarius� term…
03:48The span of wattage, Buben,�on, is watching the illusions of Japan.
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