Brian Robinson

Learning resource

Disrupting Invisibility

Brian Robinson
Maluyligal/Wuthathi/Dayak peoples
born 1974 Waiben (Thursday Island), Torres Strait Islands, Queensland
lives and works Cairns, Queensland

Speak your mind

Talking points or provocations to unpack the works through discussion and/or contemplation:

  • Discuss the significance of gardening in the Torres Strait Islands and in particular the Mabo decision, which hinged on the ownership of an inherited garden plot. More information can be found on the AIATSIS website.
  • What do you think about Brian Robinson’s artist’s statement: ‘Art is everything; art is my life. I create art, speak about art, write about art, and when I sleep I dream about art, I would eat art if I could’?
  • Discuss the notion of a ‘cultural trigger’. What does this term mean to you?
  • The area of Waiben on Thursday Island where Robinson was born is rich with cultural and spiritual complexity. Why do you think this is so?
  • How does the maritime environment of the Torres Strait Islands inform the cultural manifestations of its people?
  • Discuss the ways in which Robinson includes references to popular culture and science fiction in his creative practice. How does this approach mirror his sense of self?

Senior options

  • What is the significance of Robinson’s guardian figure?
  • The repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural materials is a continuing process for many Indigenous communities. Debate this issue in your class making reference to the mask that was included in the Picasso and his collection exhibition at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art in 2008.
  • What does the term ‘hybrid’ mean and how is this term relevant to Robinson’s oeuvre? 
  • Talk about the term ‘Primitive art’ in relation to art history. Do museums in Australia use this term today?

Get to work

Creative making suggestions that highlight key concepts:

  • Several different materials and techniques have been used to construct these works of art. Name as many materials as you can see. Think about materials in your home, school and work environment that could be repurposed to create floral forms. Create a flower made from upcycled materials that are used every day. 

Senior options

  • Develop a collaborative design for a garden with plantings specific to your climate and region of Australia. If you can’t create the natural environment in your school grounds develop the project so that you include elevations of the garden, the planting list with Indigenous names for each and watercolours of each species.

Think it through

Ideas to aid you in the creation of works:

  • Locate the islands of the Torres Strait on a map of Australia. Discover how many islands make up the archipelago and identify the main islands. Discuss the proximity of the islands to Papua New Guinea and the Australian mainland.
  • How do the materials used by Robinson differ from the organic subject matter of his works?
  • What industries are important for the Torres Strait Islands’ economies?
  • Investigate the flora of your region of Australia. How does it differ from the luscious blooms in Robinson’s work?

Senior option

  • Curate your display of work in response to Robinson’s section of the Defying Empire exhibition. Think about how the objects work cohesively together. Consider the scale, the relationship between each and the attachment mechanism if you have made upcycled floral forms.
  • Research the role of guardian figures in other cultures such as Sarasvati in Hinduism and Tang dynasty guardian figures. 
  • Consider who the ‘guardian’ of your creation story would be and why? Draw some studies of this figure inspired by guardian figures from a variety of traditional and contemporary influences.

Places to go

Links for more information about the artist:

Talk the talk

Glossary of words in the education resource and artist statement:

  • conceptualisation: form a concept or idea of (something)
  • hybrid: a thing made by combining two different elements
  • complexity: the state or quality of being intricate or complicated
  • manifestations: the action or fact of showing something
  • repatriation: to bring or send back (a person, especially a prisoner of war, a refugee, etc) to his or her country or land of citizenship

 

 

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.