Creative Program at Town Hall Station
YIRRAMBOI First Nations festival
The Metro Tunnel Creative was proud to celebrate the 2019 YIRRAMBOI First Nations festival by displaying these stunning artworks by Gunnai, Wiradjuri, Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta woman Lyn-Al Young and Boon Wurrung and Wemba Wemba woman Jarra Karalinar Steel.
The works were installed on our City Square hoardings and will remain on display until late Spring.
Click on any image to enlarge it and use the arrows or your keyboard to scroll through the gallery.
Photography: James Henry
Website: http://www.jameshenryphotography.com.au/
BURRAI WULA (baby emu)
By Lyn-Al Young, 2019
Artist statement
Baby emus have strong and distinct markings in their feathers, almost like the blueprint for their lives. As they grow older their markings are not visible anymore, but their purpose remains the same.
The Emu symbolically represents our nation moving forward with diligence, integrity and humility. In this piece, it is depicted as spiritually guiding us on the path to wisdom and truth.
Lyn-Al
Lyn-Al Young is a Gunnai, Wiradjuri, Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta fashion designer and artist living in Melbourne.
Her name, Lyn-Al, means grandmother and is a reminder of the importance of connecting back and honouring her heritage every time she starts her design process.
Realising the power of fashion and art, Lyn-Al seeks to release ‘Marrumbang’ - love and kindness - into each design and silk painting. Using an ancient method of singing in and over each one of her creations, guided by her ancestors she follows her spiritual songline and speaks positive words into the silk, dyes and water.
Website: lyn-al.com.au
Instagram: @lyn_al
BARRAEEMAL TEERRANDEERR (emu egg)
By Jarra Karalinar Steel, 2019
Artist Statement
The emu eggs have a strong presence in my life, being taught by my Elders on Country, how to hunt for the eggs as a child and having memories of watching them engrave them with nature motifs. The strong contrast of the dark blue green of the shell and the lighter colour inside always sticks heavily in my memory.
Influenced by this, I use the egg as a way of self-expression to keep me connected to my Ancestors, in honour of them.
Jarra Karalinar Steel
A Boon Wurrung and Wemba Wemba woman born in Melbourne Australia, Jarra is a descendant of Louisa Briggs and Daughter of N'arweet Carolyn Briggs.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts she is currently studying for a Master of Fine Arts at RMIT after spending a year in Paris refining her skills.
Jarra is a multidisciplinary artist working across different mediums from; sculpture, writing; photography, writing, drawing, painting, film making, fashion design and costumes for theatre production.
Photography: James Henry
RAILway by Peter Atkins
RAILway by renowned Melbourne artist Peter Atkins has been selected for display on the construction hoardings at City Square on Swanston Street.
The work is based on abstracted designs of suburban train tickets issued between 1920 and the late 1980s that departed from or arrived into Melbourne.
Click on any image to enlarge it and use the arrows or your keyboard to scroll through the gallery.
About the artist
Peter Atkins is a graduate of the National Art School, Sydney and currently lives and works in Melbourne. He has held over 40 solo exhibitions in Australia and Internationally.
Atkins’ practice centres around the appropriation and re-interpretation of ready-made abstract forms that he documents within the urban environment. This collected material becomes the direct reference source for his work, providing tangible evidence to the viewer of his relationship and experience within the landscape.
Read the artist's essay and biography for more information.
Me In Couture by Adele Varcoe
To celebrate Melbourne Fashion Week, Adele Varcoe's work Me In Couture was on display at the Town Hall Station construction site.
The City Square area has in previous years been a significant site for fashion week events, now hosted elsewhere nearby.
Me in Couture proposes a new kind of fashion collection that might be part of a Paris or Melbourne fashion week. It could be considered high-end, conceptual or as Haute Couture.
Varcoe is interested in the behaviour fashion evokes and the role social interaction plays in shaping our perception of dress.
The garments pictured in the work are made from plasticine, exploring ideas for future textiles that might consist of a material that can be constantly remodelled to create a new garment.
About the artist
Adele Varcoe is an Australian artist and designer creating fashion experiences exploring the social and emotional effects of fashion, dress and clothes.
For more information visit adelevarcoe.com.
MoMA artwork
In partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria, the hoarding at Town Hall was used to promote masterpieces from the MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art exhibition.
Prints of the MoMA pieces including iconic artwork from Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso and others were on show along Swanston Street, encouraging people to see the original works at the NGV a short walk away.
Crowd Stance by Rafaella McDonald
Crowd Stance depicted an imaginary collective of bodies made up of many feet and hands, caught in a dance and lifting off the ground. The artwork uses bold colour, intuitive mark making and cartoon like images of the body in various forms of action to playfully mimic the exchange between individual subjectivity and the collective identity of a crowd.
Crowd Stance seeks to explore how the individual considers themselves within, and also separate to a crowd. What do we project onto a crowd, and in doing so, how do we shape a crowd from within?
About the artist
Rafaella is an artist living in Melbourne and works in gallery settings, public spaces, on clothing and in collaborative performance. She is interested in using colour, bodily gestures and hand-made materials to explore joy as a strategy. Rafaella has exhibited work at The National Gallery of Victoria, West Space Gallery, TCB Art Inc, The Substation and in the biennial Next Wave Festival for emerging artists.
She has painted large-scale mural commissions for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Shepparton Art Museum and the City of Stonnington.