Tattooist, artist and veteran Rob Douma takes out Umbrella Members Prize
Artist and veteran Rob Douma has explored his inner turmoil during his time in East Timor in a revealing piece that has taken out the Umbrella Members Prize.
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Townsville artist, tattooer and Veteran Rob Douma has been awarded the annual Umbrella Members Prize for a reflective self-portrait depicting his time on deployment in East Timor.
His etching is a revealing image revealing the artist’s inner turmoil as he struggled with his mental health during his second deployment to the war-torn country.
‘Strangers in a Strange land II: Unlawful amounts of Kava’ melded with this year’s theme for the prize – artificial – as Douma gave the appearance of normality during his deployment but in reality struggled with his inner demons.
Douma said he was genuinely surprised and overjoyed to have received this award.
Since its beginnings in 1986, there has always been an annual members exhibition to a theme and in 2015 it was turned into a Prize with $1,000 gifted to the winner, currently sponsored by the Bamford Community Centre (since 2020).
“It is a quite humbling honour. The 88 entrants represent a broad section of Townsville’s art community, consisting of both peers and senior artists, many nationally recognised, and the artworks are of a really high calibre,” he said.
“I love the annual exhibitions as it’s really interesting to see how other artists respond to the theme which is different every year.
“The show is always really diverse with practically every different medium of art making covered.
Douma said he did not envy the judges decisions - Krys Bickley from Bamford Community Centre and Dr Holly Arden, Galleries Director from Townsville City Galleries.
The artist said his entry was part of a larger body of work about my experiences with ‘conflict’ and was on exhibition in the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery last year.
“It is an etching; a self-portrait describing some of my experiences on my second deployment to East Timor with the army.
“Centrally, there is a skull wearing a UN Beret surrounded by smaller objects such as a sunset, mountains, guitars, gym equipment and a half coconut shell, which was how the Kava drink was shared.
“Kava has mild sedative and euphoriant properties and is deeply embedded in Fijian culture.
“Overlaid and intersecting the skull is the flag of East Timor.
“One of the judges, Krys Bickley, had noted that the skull appeared distorted and could relate to the effects of the Kava drink, she also identified that the distorted skull spoke about the psychological damage that may occur on military deployments.
“It was extremely validating to hear that as that was exactly my experience at the time.
“My mental health had started to deteriorate and I was forced to maintain a fake, artificial exterior at all times.
“That deployment was the beginning of the end of my military career.
“I had transferred from Infantry to Intelligence and was already trained as a Thai Linguist some years before so I was deployed to Head Quarters Sector West in Suai as the Royal Thai Army were taking over from the NZ Army.
“I became close friends with several of the Fijian officers in our HQ and they invited me to attend their Kava ceremony one night.
“We all sat on the floor in an old hut and soldiers took turns playing guitars and everyone sang songs and drank Kava. It was a wonderful bonding experience and became a daily routine.
“This particular work was extremely difficult to complete as I had to re-process a lot of repressed memories and emotions.
“Further, it has also been very challenging to discuss my experiences from that intense period in my life some 20 years ago, but it has helped put things in perspective and all the positive comments have been fantastic and helped with the healing process too.
“As a print, there are ten exact copies made and these can be purchased individually.
“Excitingly, another work from this series has just been selected as a Finalist in the prestigious Lethbridge Prize in Brisbane and the entire body of 18 works should be exhibited in Melbourne and Canberra over the next 12 months.”
The 2024 Umbrella Members Exhibition is currently showing at the Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts gallery at 408 Flinders Street until July 21.
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