‘Incredible diversity’: Inside UMI Arts’ 20th anniversary exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater

UMI Arts will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a commemorative exhibition celebrating the culture and vast diversity of First Nations communities across Far North Queensland. GET A PREVIEW:

Artist Kel Williams, UMI Arts chair Connie Rovina and artist David Hudson ahead of UMI Arts' 20th anniversary commemorative exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater. Picture: Molly Frew

The culture and vast diversity of First Nations communities across Far North Queensland will be showcased in a commemorative exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of UMI Arts.

Featuring 120 works from 20 hand-picked First Nations artists from the Far North, Freshwater Saltwater will open on Saturday, June 28 at the Mulgrave Gallery.

“It’s just such a privilege to be able to share this with the local Cairns community and visitors to the region,” UMI Arts artistic director and artist Lisa Michl Ko-manggén said of the exhibition, which drew its name from the freshwater and saltwater systems found in Far North Queensland.

“UMI Arts enables our First Nations member artists to transcend culture through generations … There’s elements of this exhibition where work has been made from great-grandparents and grandparents … (and passed) to great-grandchildren, so those stories are being transcended and handed down.”

UMI Arts chair Connie Rovina inside UMI’s 20th anniversary exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater. Picture: Molly Frew

Ms Michl Ko-manggén said UMI chose both established and up-and-coming artists to feature in the exhibition.

“We wanted to make sure that we gave equal opportunity and equally represented different regions … we’ve got works from Yarrabah, Hopevale, Mornington Island, West Cape and the Torres Strait,” she said.

“We’ve got fine art paintings, prints, sculptures, beautiful body adornments, ceramics … so it really is just a reflection of the whole region.”

UMI Arts is a First Nations arts and cultural organisation which has more than 1000 members in Far North Queensland, encompassing an area from Cardwell to the Torres Strait and Camooweal in the state’s west.

Chair Connie Rovina said UMI’s exhibition exemplified the goal of the organisation to highlight First Nations culture and connection.

“You get a full cultural and spiritual immersion,” Ms Rovina said of the exhibition.

“You can pick and choose a region and see the diversity in the designs. We’ve got some more modern designs, others really traditional, but they all tell that story of cultural connection.”

Some of the artwork in UMI Arts’ 20th anniversary exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater. Picture: Molly Frew

ARTIST PREVIEW

Lisa Michl Ko-manggén

Lisa Michl Ko-manggén has Kokoberrin (Cape York) ancestry and has been creating art for 27 years.

Speaking about her first piece in the exhibition, titled Middens, Ms Michl Ko-manggén said the artwork speaks to “the early days when our family lived on country”.

“It’s about places where our families gathered,” she said. “We’d sit and spend time together and eat food and share things. And over generations, over decades, when we collected shellfish and cooked them on the hot coals of a fire, they ended up in mounds, which are now known as middens.”

Her second piece, Ma-rrambéliny, represents a dreaming story passed down to her children over six generations.

Ms Michl Ko-manggén said ma-rrambéliny means sugarbag, and the story represents her community’s connection to native sugarbag bees and the honey and wax they produce.

“The native wax is so significant to our people because it binds all of our artefacts, all of our jewellery, all of our body adornments,” she said.

Lisa Michl Ko-manggén with her pieces, Middens and Ma-rrambéliny. Picture: Molly Frew

David Hudson

David Hudson, who is a descendant of the Ewamian and Western Yalanji people, says his art is about “repurposing, and showing people we are all connected through artworks and mediums”.

“I've virtually been an artist all my life, because I grew up in a family that made products from boomerangs, shields, spears,” Mr Hudson said.

“So I’m just carrying on the tradition that my elders have taught me, and I’ve now got a daughter who’s an artist as well.”

Mr Hudson used old wood from Ewamian country to create four spirit poles for the exhibition he called “didgeri-donts”, due to the timber’s imperfections.

“They’re not waste wood, they’re warriors again, standing tall and straight,” Mr Hudson said.

David Hudson with his work in UMI Arts' 20th anniversary exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater. Picture: Molly Frew

Kel Williams

Kel Williams has Ugar (Stephen Island) and Guuguyimidhirr (Cape York) heritage and predominantly makes artwork from timber.

He has been making model boats since 2015.

“I’ve just always loved boats … a lot of my artwork is from what I used to build back in the 70s – big boats,” Mr Williams said.

One of his pieces is a model of the pearl lugger his grandfather used to work on as a skipper.

“My grandfather (would) sit me down … telling me all the stories about the sea and when he was on the ocean and a diver himself … No way I would ever do that,” he said.

Mr Williams said he sourced a lot of the timber used to make the boat from the rainforest, including a tree root which became the wave in the piece.

Kel Williams with his model pearl lugger. Picture: Molly Frew

Freshwater Saltwater opens on Saturday, June 28 at 11am at Mulgrave Gallery, which was formerly the Mulgrave Shire Council Chambers.

The celebration will include artist stalls from 10am, artist talks, Torres Strait dance and naturalist bush medicine workshops, as well as First Nations catering by Blaq Pearl.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the opening of the exhibition, which continues until Sunday, August 23.

Originally published as ‘Incredible diversity’: Inside UMI Arts’ 20th anniversary exhibition, Freshwater Saltwater