‘The dots represent us’: New multicultural mosaic unveiled for NAIDOC by Mates4Mates

When an Aboriginal artist was hired to teach a bunch of veterans how to dot paint, he was worried they might walk out. Instead, they painted everything from divorce to service dogs. See how.

The Mates4Mates NAIDOC artwork, completed by veterans with guidance from artist Chris Gray.

When an Aboriginal artist was hired to teach a bunch of veterans how to dot paint, he was worried they might walk out.

Instead, they fully embraced the tradition – carefully capturing everything from divorce to service dogs.

The artist tapped on the shoulder was Chris Gray from Chris Deadly Art, who had been commissioned to help Townsville veteran charity Mates4Mates create artwork for NAIDOC week.

“I don’t know why, but I thought once I did my presentation about how to do dot painting, people would get up and walk out,” Mr Gray said.

“But they started sketching or painting straight away … the biggest surprise was how comfortable these people felt expressing personal things.”

The Mates4Mates NAIDOC artwork, completed by veterans with guidance from artist Chris Gray.

At a glance, the large painting is a wild pattern of colour, but once Mr Gray – himself a defence force veteran – begins pointing out the little details, it turns into a quilt of stories, with each veteran responsible for a different section.

Little U shapes represent people sitting in the sand, and when placed in a circle, they become families or ‘yarning circles’ – something that repeats again and again throughout the artwork.

One man purposefully placed his dots in a chaotic, messy way, only easing them into a neat pattern once they passed the symbol he’d dedicated to his assistance dog, representing how the dog had changed his life.

‘The dots represent us’: New multi-cultural mosaic explained

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The large artwork is the brainchild of Mates4Mates liaison officer Coco Quirke, himself an army veteran with 18 years of service who’s been thinking big about NAIDOC.

“I don’t think you can close the gap without getting knowledge from the culture,” Mr Quirke said.

“Dot painting is a part of the culture. I didn’t want Chris to come in here and do a piece so we could say it represented us when we could do it together. Because the culture in my mind is so beautiful, and the only way we’re going to show we’re more than bystanders is to get in and share our culture.”

Some of those involved in the artwork were Aboriginal, but quite a few weren’t – one section was dominated by a Samoan fale family hut, another by the number ‘£10’ to symbolise the last of the £10 Poms, someone painted their Torres Strait totem the hammerhead shark, while another painted a ship full of people to represent how their ancestors traded across the Arafura Sea and even into China.

A section completed by a woman who's family were the very last of the £10 Poms.

“They have used an art form that’s been practised for over 60,000 years to capture their own stories,” Mr Quirke said.

The painting will be officially unveiled at the Mates4Mates NAIDOC morning tea at the charity’s Aitkenvale premises on Wednesday, July 10.

The morning tea is another brainchild of Mr Quirke’s, who’s cooked up a menu that includes crocodile tail, kangaroo sausages, green ant marmalade, lily pillys and even more delicious food sourced from Australian Native Food Co.

Mates4Mates was established in 2013 by RSL Queensland to provide rehabilitation services and wellbeing programs for veterans and their families.

Originally published as ‘The dots represent us’: New multicultural mosaic unveiled for NAIDOC by Mates4Mates