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00:08I am Tony Albert, and as a practising contemporary artist, I have collaborated, exhibited, and
00:15sold my works around the globe.
00:17In recent years, I have also witnessed graffiti become the biggest and fastest art movement
00:23in the world.
00:26Captivated by this popular arts practice, I'm stepping out of my studio and hitting the
00:31streets to meet four graffiti artists and explore their work.
00:54All my brothers now, all my sisters, all my uncles now, all my mothers now.
01:23I like it when they look at me like I'm nothing special, because I'm not.
01:27And looks don't matter, I got the brains of a supermodel, the look of a crimp, and judging
01:32books by this cover, I'll be doing hard labour, packing bags of fertiliser when the bullshit
01:37spread.
01:38The greener, the pasture.
01:39Hey, Waraba.
01:40How's it going?
01:41Hey, Tony.
01:42Good to see you.
01:43Yeah, you too.
01:44So tell me what you're up to.
01:47I'm just going to do the text that says Kamilaroi, obviously my mob.
01:52So I'm starting to focus my work on something that's a bit meaningful, and to put Aboriginal
01:59language back into the public sight, so there's a bit of education that goes with it as well.
02:07I think graffiti is a really powerful tool, especially used politically.
02:14What's the difference between graffiti art and graffiti, like vandalism or...?
02:20Um, graffiti is Latin for scribing any surface.
02:24So it's basically just making a mark on a wall?
02:27Yeah.
02:28There's legalities that determine what is graffiti and what is street art, even though
02:33they're two and the same.
02:35I'm really interested in the different terminology within the graffiti world.
02:39Yeah, well this would be an average piece.
02:42You'd start off doing tags and throw-ups, and then you would come into burners and productions,
02:48which are more large scale, usually, you know, have characters, but the term burner is someone
02:56who can paint really good, so if it's not good, then you're not a burner.
03:23I see correlations between graffiti and Aboriginal art.
03:28I see them as a cultural continuum.
03:37I've been painting graffiti for 15 years.
03:43Graffiti was appealing to me because I was a young kid who was interested in art, but I was also
03:52angry about a lot of things.
03:58My city lights on my mind.
04:00Brisbane is pretty hard to paint at for legal spaces.
04:05I think an example of some of the challenges around Indigenous street art, especially in Brisbane, was the pillars project.
04:12You'll notice that all the white street artists got a pillar each.
04:17What it looks like is let's separate the black street artists and let's make them work together,
04:23because we don't think that they're quite capable of doing their own pillar yet.
04:27They did a really good job, but they're two very different artists and you can see that in the pillar,
04:31you know.
04:43I've been lucky enough to have a family who is supportive of the arts.
04:49I think that it's something that I grew up around.
04:54He's one of my besties, but I think when he was about, I don't know, maybe 13, you wouldn't see
05:02him without a notebook.
05:03And he'd be sketching and then it went on to graffiti and just creating amazing things with political statements attached
05:12to them.
05:13Both our kids are very strong, yeah, with culture and politics.
05:20When we went to political meetings, when all the meetings come together of all the organisations and the community and
05:26stuff,
05:27and we were looking at community development, black politics, black consciousness and political awareness, those sorts of things.
05:34These kids were in the arms of the elders, the women.
05:37I do remember going to a lot of the protests.
05:42I remember being five years old or so, or maybe even younger, four years old.
05:49Walking down the street, holding mum and dad's hand, marching.
05:55Thousands, both black and white, came from 200 kilometres away to march for justice.
06:02The protests, silent except for traditional music, marked the death of 18-year-old Daniel Yock.
06:11And they marched on Parliament House in Brisbane and they kicked down the front green gates.
06:19Aborigines say it's a foretaste of national protests about every aspect of Aboriginal life.
06:25And then they had their opportunity to say what they wanted to say.
06:31But if that gate hadn't been kicked down, I don't think that would have been the case.
06:36So yeah, having opportunities like that, that's a really significant part of my early life.
06:45And I guess being involved in a politically active family, do you think that's a reason behind your art practice?
06:53Graffiti's like a movement that sort of, within the hip-hop sense, comes from, you know, civil rights movement and
07:01stuff like that.
07:02So it comes from the people who are oppressed and it's putting that artwork in the public space where people
07:08can't ignore it, yeah.
07:10Being a 13, 14-year-old Murray kid, I had a lot to say and I felt censored and I,
07:19you know, a lot of times, you know, being ridiculed at school.
07:24I was, I was young and I was pissed off, you know.
07:29When we knew he was doing the street art and things like that and you sort of see them, him
07:36and his mates go out, you know, late at night and you're sort of, where you going?
07:40And you lay there at night, as you do as a parent waiting for your son, child to come home.
07:49But did you think there was a pretty raw talent there?
07:53I didn't know he was that good.
07:55That didn't really happen until maybe 16, he shared those photos of his legal war stuff.
08:02There was lots of stuff going on.
08:03I mean, it had to be because street art is one of those things, it's just like jazz blues in
08:09the early days.
08:11Street art was almost pushed underground over here.
08:14It was basically disallowed.
08:18I think it's just, yeah, quite amazing that he knows what he wants to do and how he wants to
08:23express it.
08:24His art, it tells a story, it tells a story of struggle and fight, fighting resistance.
08:32That's what I'm proud of, that he can conceptualise what he wants to say and put it into a piece
08:41of art, you know.
08:42I think that's pretty damn amazing, yeah.
08:51I started taking my art practice seriously that consists of more than graffiti after I enrolled into university.
09:13I think my practice of a graffiti writer translates into my contemporary fine art practice in the way that I
09:24utilise every single bit of space.
09:28Everything is careful and considered.
09:30Hey, Waraba. How are you doing, bro?
09:33Good, yourself?
09:34Yeah, good.
09:36Wow.
09:38Tell us about this grad work.
09:39I named it Bora from Bora ceremonies, initiations and so forth.
09:46I haven't been privileged enough to be surrounded by those types of practices.
09:52And I've used a more religious motif in the work to sort of show how much I worshipped graffiti writing
10:00for so long.
10:01And just to show as well that the name Bora sort of is to communicate that graffiti writing is a
10:11cultural continuum.
10:13You meet so many people and the automatic preconceived notion that comes to mind is, you know, do you do
10:18dot art?
10:18And it's just, I think there's a, you know, a lot of dot art.
10:23Yeah, there's still such a preconceived idea of what Aboriginal art is.
10:29I lectured Waraba teaching ethical things, protocols and copyright.
10:36A lot of the students have had a lot of success tracing their own family histories now because it gives
10:43them a starting point.
10:45And they produce an art that comes from their own mob.
10:51The diamond, chevron patterns are two blood groups from Camilaroi, Gawai Gallia and Gawai Martin, matrilineal and patrilineal.
11:00When I was taught about different patterns and imagery and symbols, that it's always encouraged to change them so they're
11:10not used in the same manner as used for ceremony.
11:13Yeah. Okay.
11:15It's a constant reminder of where we've come from.
11:18And have you had an actual opportunity to look at these designs in other forms at all or have you
11:24kept it to the painting?
11:26I have started to play around with printmaking and sculpture.
11:32So there's a work over here that I've created.
11:35Okay.
11:36The diamond, chevron patterns on carved trees and they were used as cultural markers.
11:44So there was a point in Australian history where these kind of trees were literally cut off and moved to
11:50museums and institutions.
11:52I have a feeling that majority of them ended up at the South Australia Museum, locked up in their vaults.
11:58I think it's a very important thing that needs to be put back on the agenda.
12:04You can say a lot through graffiti, you can say a lot through sculpture and I don't think it helps
12:11anyone to be confined by just one type of practice.
12:15When he walked in here, you just sort of knew he had a talent and that happens from time to
12:22time when some students walk in.
12:24You just know by their attitude and the quality of their work that they know, they'll make it.
12:33Hatched is a national exhibition for visual art graduates.
12:39I was lucky enough to be in the top 34 visual arts graduates within the country.
12:52I think Waraba's work is really considered.
12:57He has a particular eye for detail.
13:03It seems to be that it's always about contemporary expression of our cultural continuum.
13:12He's really becoming a really engaging, multidisciplinary artist.
13:21And now this work has toured and come back and you're fixing it up, what do you think next for
13:25it?
13:27Well, it's been bought by the Artbank Collection.
13:30Oh, congratulations. Thanks.
13:32And for my first sale as well.
13:34Congratulations, that's excellent. Artbank's a really great collection.
13:47We think graffiti, you have to always push yourself.
13:50You're your own sort of boss, you're your own competition.
13:53Even though you might compete with other artists as well, you're your own biggest hurdle.
14:00I came from the bottom, what I got to fear.
14:04I came from the bottom, now I'm finally here, living my dreams.
14:12Waraba and I know each other through our studies at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, and also through
14:19our social circles within the art world, and certainly Waraba's got plenty to say.
14:23The artwork I saw Waraba produce at QCA during his studies was really stimulating to me.
14:31There was one particular ink drawing that Waraba produced for his graduate exhibition, which encapsulated so much emotion and intent
14:38that that image is burnt into my retina.
14:45It's a self-portrait demonstrating rage. It looks like it's dripping with blood.
14:52My teacher was continually trying to push artists to experiment, and so I grabbed some drawing ink and ripped a
15:02branch off a tree, and just started creating drawings with a tree branch and ink.
15:17I got a lot of experience and knowledge from completing my Bachelor's degree in Contemporary Aboriginal Arts, the Bova Kaur
15:25degree at Queensland College of Art.
15:28It was a great experience to learn from established Aboriginal artists, who I see as mentors today.
15:38It's always good when someone like Waraba comes along because they bring something new to the table.
15:45His father is Bobby Weatherall, so he probably had politics for breakfast.
15:54It was the point where I started taking things more seriously, building research into my artwork, and having that research
16:03inform my artwork.
16:08Landwriters is graffiti writers for land rights.
16:11It consists of myself and another Torres Strait Islander brother, Daniel Jones.
16:17Cordelia Strait Wall, what were you thinking?
16:21You could do him and I'll do...
16:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:24Jump on the ground.
16:25And then we'll do the lines through the background.
16:28We've got two days to do it.
16:30Yeah.
16:30Then the wall would probably be five, six metres tall.
16:3420, 25, man.
16:3520, 25 metres long.
16:37Like, you're going to be able to tell, like, he's going to be a white father and he's going to
16:41be a black father.
16:41Mm-hmm.
16:44So here they come, now, babe, they can't stop.
16:47Look at me, I put it up with my...
16:50There's been a lot of protests where institutional abuse and deaths in custody continue because of police malpractice.
16:59Listen to the speaker.
17:00Ask me cause, hold up.
17:01What you thought?
17:02Did I drink all day?
17:03Aboriginal deaths in custody is such a deadly serious topic and especially right now.
17:10What's happening?
17:10I'm building a cup, now, babe, they can't stop.
17:13Look at me, I went deep, some, we might lie.
17:17They say drunk, now, trace locked up.
17:20I think it's important to have Aboriginal content around in public areas so people are continually thinking,
17:28oh, you know, I haven't seen that before.
17:30And then start questioning what is that, possibly even whose land am I standing on right now?
17:36Try and pair with me brother man with strength and numbers.
17:38We can win this fight.
17:40Struggle is ours.
17:41And what don't kill us can only make us stronger rise.
17:44So I look back to yesterday as they focus now...
17:48I think graffiti is a really powerful tool.
17:53It's especially used politically.
17:57A lot of media won't report from blackfellas.
18:02They won't air their opinions.
18:04But we can actually engage in that public debate.
18:15Oh no, what one's that one?
18:18Like no matter where I turn, I got a face to fire.
18:22I got a face to fire.
18:25And no matter if fire.
18:26Need to do more techy on the face, eh?
18:28Under the lips.
18:29Hey, Warabar.
18:31Hey, Tony.
18:31How's it going, bud?
18:32Good and yourself?
18:33Very well, thank you.
18:34This is Daniel Jones, the other half of Landwriters.
18:37Oh, fantastic.
18:37Can you tell me a little bit more about the intent of this piece in particular?
18:42So this piece that we've been working on is a response to institutional racism and specifically Aboriginal death in custody.
18:50The public will identify with this piece, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and realise that there's an ongoing problem within
18:58the justice system that needs to be highlighted and needs to be put back on the public agenda.
19:37I'm talking about the lives of so many black families who have been through this, and I'm not going to
19:43make any excuses.
20:10Through my own practice, I'm keeping myself accountable, and I think I have more of a responsibility to put political
20:17or cultural thought back into the public domain because too often there's stuff that is censored because you're doing political
20:28stuff and no one wants to rock the boat.
20:40I think that graffiti helped with getting a lot of frustration and anger out.
20:46My artwork is a way of self-healing to get something off my chest.
20:52I just want to impress when I take my place in line, so come on and stop wasting your time,
21:06cause it's time to get serious.
21:09I only ever create Camilleroy artworks.
21:11I don't appropriate other people's symbols.
21:15People need to be accountable.
21:17Pay your respects and go and ask traditional owners.
21:24We're here at the Brisbane Powerhouse where you are completing a new work.
21:27Yes, I've been working on the New Work Messengers, and it depicts three Camilleroy message sticks, ultimately a form of
21:37communication between different nations when you enter into someone else's country.
21:48I just wanted something that was not so earthy, and I wanted it to be much of a brighter sort
21:58of piece that grabs your attention, especially how it pops off the black background, like a glow.
22:06Throughout the week I've really come to understand the success you have as an artist through straddling the political and
22:13the cultural.
22:14Could you explain how you mesh or how you deal with those two things?
22:18I think it's important to have a balance within your practice.
22:22I think creating political works, it tends to be very heavy, and I think there needs to be a bit
22:30of lightheartedness that you can balance out and still make your artwork fun.
22:34Now how you gonna stop a kid with the intentions to make it big and pieces of the puzzle, now
22:39just gotta make them fit.
22:40That's just how it is. That's just how I live. I do what it takes to make it big in
22:45this bin.
22:45See, I'm unstoppable. I make this here possible, no matter what is blocking you.
22:50Stopping just ain't optional, and you go up and down and round and round like at a theme...
22:55There's always rules and responsibilities to guide you.
22:58You know, I can create something now and that could be something that continues throughout the next 200 years.
23:13Bring it out there because you've got something to say, and if people want to see it, then it's there.
23:17If people don't want to see it, well too bad, it's there.
23:28Now how you gonna stop a kid with the intentions to make it big and pieces of the puzzle, now
23:33just gotta make them fit.
23:35That's just how it is. That's just how I live. I do what it takes to make it big in
23:39this bin.
23:40See, I'm unstoppable. I make this here possible, no matter what is blocking you.
23:45Stopping just ain't optional, and you go up and down and round and round like at a theme park,
23:50and you meet some clowns and say you kind to this and kind to that, but this is my mission.
23:59This is the second video.
24:00It's available to you documentary.
24:00But this is probably how it goes because I'm not prepared for it.
24:01There will be two rooms and I rowing is the two rooms.
24:02We are actually 모 Broni.
24:02It's open to two rooms.
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