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The ocean is always changing, shifting, and moving. Like all creatures, we are affected by the forces that shape the ocean. The tides, waves, wind, and currents of the ocean bring us food and shape our culture.
The earth’s power gives new life to sustain us all, but we must show more care. The ocean is mysterious – many secrets lie just beneath the surface. We must respect the ocean’s power; it can provide for us, but also take life away.
I am exploring the way the ocean creates cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Important moments in our lives push and pull us like the water. If we resist these forces, life can be tough, and we can suffer. When we let go, and accept that life is like nature; it is constantly changing both for good and bad.
If we understand this, then we can let nature takes its course, and things will be in balance.
Jimmy John Thaiday, 2023
Events:
Saturday 27 July, 2024
Open House Melbourne
10am – 2pm
Thursday 19 September, 2024
Special screening of Just Beneath the Surface.
Unfortunately Janina Harding (Creative Victoria) is no longer able to attend and introduce Jimmy’s work, but please join us Thursday 19 September for a special screening of Just Beneath the Surface.
Just Beneath the Surface aligns two recent acquisitions that reimagine the ocean and ‘ghost nets’. A video by Jimmy John Thaiday and Keiran James and a woven sculpture by Numburindi artists Rose Wilfred, Joy Wilfred, Megan Wilfred, Virginia Wilfred, Jangu Nundhirribala, May Wilfred, Jocelyn Wilfred, Nicola Wilfred.
The screening and exhibition launch will be followed by light refreshments and a private viewing of the Artbank Collection.
When: Thursday 19 September, 2024
Time: 5pm – 7pm
Screening and talks to begin at 6pm
Jimmy John Thaiday & Keiran James
Rose Wilfred, Joy Wilfred, Megan Wilfred, Virginia Wilfred, Jangu Nundhirribala, May Wilfred, Jocelyn Wilfred, Nicola Wilfred
Artbank is pleased to present Just Beneath the Surface, an exhibition which aligns two recent acquisitions that reimagine the ocean and ‘ghost nets’. A video by Jimmy John Thaiday and Keiran James and a woven sculpture by Numburindi artists Rose Wilfred, Joy Wilfred, Megan Wilfred, Virginia Wilfred, Jangu Nundhirribala, May Wilfred, Jocelyn Wilfred, Nicola Wilfred.
In response to the impact of ghost nets and ocean plastics more broadly, which gather and pollute the beaches across the top end of Australia and the Torres Strait, both artists critically engage with the issue of climate change from the viewpoint of First Nations voices; both works use collaboration and community engagement to heighten this message.
Together the artworks aim to raise consciousness and understanding of these real and pressing issues that these communities face and the way it is affecting their sea rights and their way of life. The artists reinterpret and change the value of ghost nets by using the material to tell their own story through art.
Just Beneath the Surface is a collaborative film created by Thaiday and James. In this work, Thaiday, from Erub Island, Torres Strait, shows himself literally strangled by nets. The shark is a traditional symbol of lore and authority and is an equivocal force in this work. It is both a menacing but also powerful and life affirming presence. For Thaiday, art is a means of expressing his identity while sharing his culture and beliefs.
Lharagula Ngididin (Crocodile Trap) is a collaborative piece from eight Numburindi artists. This is the first instance the artists, each a master weaver in their own right, have officially come together to work on a major sculpture. The crocodile trap is not a traditional hunting tool, but an imagined and poetic object.
Both works assert the ongoing impact of cultural life affected by external forces, and the strength and resilience of the artists and their community in shaping the future.
