Brian Robinson

Brian Robinson grew up on Waiben (Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait with Maluyligal and Wuthathi cultural heritage. Robinson creates works that combine traditional mark making and patterns from his culture with references to his favourite pop culture movies and comics. He is a multi-skilled contemporary artist, working in diverse media, including printmaking, sculpture and public art.

Robinson’s work Custodian of the Blooms has several dimensions: physical, cultural and spiritual and reflects many cultural influences: traditional spirituality; the Catholic faith of his family; classical Western art traditions; and his interest in comic book characters, everyday objects and graffiti art.

In this installation a dynamic mix of materials has been skilfully crafted to create a relief wall sculpture of printed and stencilled 3D forms. There is an interplay between traditional and contemporary cultural motifs and themes. Along with the playfulness, there is sense of magic of a spirit world beyond our reality. Robinson has made an enchanted garden brought to life by the masked figure. Is the Custodian a hero, a warrior, an enchanter?

Custodian of the blooms, 2014 is a wall installation created from the iconic bloom series that extends my investigation into the cultural narratives and traditional customs of the Zenadh Kes Islanders. Across every island in the Torres Strait, flowering and fruiting trees line the streets and surround the communities, growing wild or in garden pots. Hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, coconut, beach almond, mango, banana and even wongai, to name a few, bear garlands and fruit year round. Skill in gardening is dependent on understanding of the four seasons - Kuki (north-west winds), Sager (south-east trade winds), Zey (southerly winds) and Naigai (northerly winds) - including knowledge of the movement of stars, constellations, tidal patterns, and migration of birds and sea creatures. Agricultural fertility also entails a respect for inherited ancestral land and knowledge of how to influence rainfall and the growth of plants through actions, words, songs and the use of figures and stones.

Written by artist Brian Robinson. This text first appeared in the 2017 Tarnanthi Catalogue.

Create your own paper sculpture bloom. What plants, flowers or trees bloom in different seasons where you live?

Indigenous astronomy existed long before the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people developed a number of practical ways to observe the sun, the moon and the stars to inform navigation and calendars and to predict weather. Astronomical phenomena informed lore and social structure and also served as the foundation for ancestral narratives that have been passed down generations through song, dance and oral traditions.

Because of their seafaring lifestyle, Torres Strait Islanders have always relied on their sophisticated understanding of the stars, the seasons, the weather, the winds and the currents both for navigation and for identifying appropriate times to gather, nurture or avoid food plants and animals. In Islander mythology, celestial beings (star constellations) are known as Zugubal, powerful spirits who influence the environment and climate, which in turn sets the course and rhythm for community life.

During the dry season of Solal, which occurs from mid-October to late November, the major star constellation that is seen in the skies over Papua New Guinea is Baidam, the great shark, which is made up of the seven major stars of Ursa Major (the Big Dipper). When these stars appear in the north, Islanders follow set daily activities.

In the sky Gainau, the majestic Torresian pigeons, and Birubiru, the rainbow bird, migrate back to the Australian mainland while Awai, the pelican, is seen flying over the dry swamps. Dollar birds are also seen flying through the scrub in pursuit of insects.

In the sea the mating season of Waru the green turtle has commenced. Dhangal have given birth to their calves and Akul, the mangrove mussels, and Zaber are in abundance. Large schools of Tup head out to sea to spawn and Tupmul are found gliding in the shallow waters near the beach. The stars slowly rotate across the night sky under the watchful eye of the old men. When the tail of the shark is above the horizon, the north-west winds begin to blow slightly. When the tail can no longer be seen, the sound of the first thunder can be heard. Gardening becomes one of the primary tasks on land. Plots are tilled and prepared and food crops such as banana, sweet potato, sugar cane, varieties of yams and Maniotha (cassava) are planted. When Baidam appears again, yams, sweet potatoes and bananas have ripened and are ready to be harvested and eaten.

Understanding the environment and its connection to the Zugubal is very important to Torres Strait Islanders. Their continued existence relies on this ingrained survival knowledge – life lessons that are taught to piknini from early childhood.

Written by artist Brian Robinson. This text first appeared in the 2019 Tarnanthi Catalogue.