The Maroochydore City Centre is bringing art to the people.
An eye-catching artwork celebrating First Nations Elders and honouring traditional knowledge and stories of Country is the first of three inspirational pieces to go on display as a result of the latest round of funding provided through the Maroochydore City Centre Creative Hoarding Program.
Special guest at a Meet the Artist talk in the city centre, First Nations artist Mandy Draper unveiled her artwork Grandmother’s Ngurra and shared the story behind her commission.
“This work depicts an Elder in her community, on her land, her country,” Draper said.
“She is guiding and educating her grandchildren with her knowledge, her stories and her traditions to pass on to her next generation and keep her culture strong.
“She shares her journey through the footprints she and her ancestors have taken to be here today.”
Draper is a proud First Nations woman from the Cabrogal Tribe of the Darug Nation who has been living on Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi Country for more than 28 years.
Sunshine Coast artists Dr Kym Tabulo and Jaime Kiss have been chosen alongside Draper to showcase artwork as part of the theme A Place for People at the Metropolitan, after a record number of artists applied under the latest round of funding through the Creative Hoarding Program.
Grandmother’s Ngurra is 6.3m long by 2.1m high and will be on display at the MET pop-up gallery wall until January 2024, followed by artworks from Tabulo and Kiss.
The program is part of the yourcity.yourstory. initiative which enables people’s ideas, experiences and responses to their future city to be expressed, documented and showcased.
“Arts and culture will continue to play a vital role as we shape a truly contemporary Maroochydore City Centre that reflects the needs of the community today and into the future,” SunCentral CEO Amanda Yeates said.
“I congratulate our three local artists on their valuable contribution which will help strengthen the cultural experience for residents, workers and visitors to our city centre.”
Tabulo is a local artist and permanent member of the Moffat Beach-based Seaview Artists Gallery whose work explores the concept of A Place for People in physical and metaphysical terms, and is informed by the effects of spatial transformation on people.
Kiss is a Peregian Beach-based contemporary artist and collaborator with Studio 26. After studying in Brazil and the UK, his work is filled with an abundant curiosity for the world and its inhabitants, expressed in geometric compositions using the power of colour and simple lines.
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