Ryan Andrew Lee
Wonnarua, 2021
2 channel video, 4608x1920
2940 x 1684 x 47mm
02:01 mins
Artist Statement
Wonnarua is a contemplative moving image installation work that aims to provoke discussion around themes of Indigenous ways of living in juxtaposition with western settler-state system's unsustainable, damaging ways of using stolen lands.
The video diptych contrasts living portraits of six First Nations people from the Wonnarua Nation with drone shots of the Muswellbrook coal mines. Situated in the heart of Wonnarua Country, the mines feed the largest coal port in the world, exporting over $89B in coal across 2021-2022 accounting for just under 1% of total global carbon emissions.
The frame in which the work sits is an 1820's antique Victorian era influenced design, which correlates with the exact time period that European settlers first reached Muswellbrook Wonnarua Country. The symbolic frame also addresses my blatant hypocrisy of critiquing destructive Western energy systems although at the same time growing up and still presently living and benefiting from an extremely privileged Western lifestyle.
The work is a provocation around the urgency for enquiry into how our environment is currently being managed, and alludes the remedy is to intergrate aspects of traditional First Nation’s sustainable practices for caring for Country.
Acquisitions
2023 Wonnarua, 2021, Facets Fairholme College, Toowoomba QLD
2021 Wonnarua, 2021, Maitland Regional Gallery NSW
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Upriver - Downriver Biennale, curated by Kim Blunt, Maitland Regional Gallery NSW
2023 Facets: The Fairholme Open Art Prize, curated by The Facets Exhibition Committee QLD
2023 School of Art Exhibition, curated by Carla Dickens, Art Byron NSW
2022 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, curated by Luke Chenoweth, South Australia Museum SA
2022 Amazon/Amazon, curated by Ashleigh Jones, Michael Reid Gallery, Chippendale NSW
2022 The 67th Blake Prize, curated by Rosemary Crumlin OAM, Casula Powerhouse, Liverpool NSW
2022 North Sydney Art Prize, curated by Rebecca Farrell, The Coal Loader, Waverton NSW
2021 Softpower, curated by Hannah Jenkins, Firstdraft NSW
2021 Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize, Manly Art Gallery NSW
2021 Footscray Art Prize Exhibition, curated by Amy McMurtrie, Footscray Community Arts Centre
2021 Wyndham Art Prize 2021, curated by Megan Evans, Wyndham Art Gallery, VIC
2021 Illuminate Festival Adelaide x ANAT New Light, Wayville, SA
2021 FELTdark x AGSA Tarnanthi Festival, curated by Sally Craven, FELTspace Adelaide
2021 Reimagine Art Prize, curated by Kathryn Beattie, Wallarobba Art and Culture Centre, Hornsby, NSW
2021 Evaporate, curated by Kyra Kum-Sing, Boomali Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Leichhardt, NSW
2021 Construction/Development, curated by Kalanjay Dhir, Pari ARI Gallery Sydney
2021 Emerging Artist Award, curated by Briar Holt, Fortfive Downstairs, Melbourne VIC
2021 Byron Bay Film Festival Pop Up Screening, curated by Ingrid Wilson, Palace Cinemas, Byron Bay, NSW
2021 Naked and Nude Art Prize, curated by Rachel Piercy, Manning Regional Art Gallery NSW
2021 Kalgoorlie Art Prize, curated by Jessica Wood, Goldfields Arts Centre, WA
2021 RME Downlands, curated by Evan Hollis, Downlands College, Toowoomba QLD
2021 Lethbridge Landscape Prize, curated by Simone Linssen, Lethbridge Gallery Paddington, QLD
2021 COOEE: Come Here, curated by Mirri Leven, Cooee Art Redfern
2021 11 Under Thirty, curated by Erika and Paulin Plumb, New Artisans Gallery Milsons Point
2021 HOME, curated by Katherine Marmaras, Geelong Art Space
2021 Vasse Art Awards, curated by Jo Pell, Vasse Gallery WA
2021 Let's Go Online, Express Impress Arts Collective London (Online)
2021 BAMM Art Fair, curated by Sarah Vickerman, Bank Art Museum Moree
2021 Emerging 2020, curated by Sarah Samild, Gosford Regional Gallery
2021 Call It What You Want To, curated by Vasili Papathanasopoulos, Sydney Fringe Festival
Selected Solo Exhibitons
2022 Wangaratta Art Gallery, curated by Inga Hanover
2021 Westpace Collingwood, Victoria, curated by Andy Butler
2021 Cool Change Contemporary Perth, curated by Miranda Johnson
2021 Maitland Regional Gallery, curated by Anne McLaughlin
2021 Lismore Regional Gallery, curated by Fiona Fraser
2021 Culture at Work Gallery Pyrmont, curated by Sherryl Ryan
2021 Gloucester Gallery, curated by Gigi Campa
2021 Projects 107 Redfern, curated by Jackson Morphett Field
Selected International Group and Solo Exhibitions
2023 Arte Laguna Prize, curated by Jennifer Marie Collavo, Arte Laguna Art Museum Venice, Italy
2021 Altered Images Fest, curated by Alba Moyano, The Others, London, United Kingdom
2021 STTW Straight Through The Wall 2031 NYC, New York City
2021 MAHB Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, Stanford University, California (online)
2021 Environmental Alterations, curated by LoosenArt, Millepiani Art Galllery, Rome, Italy
2021 Circle, Curated by Leejin Kim, CICA Museum Gimpo South Korea
2021 YICCA Young International Contest of Contemporary Art, Art Association APS Moho
2021 The Purposeful Mayonnaise Journal: issue 2, California, United States (publication)
2021 Let's Go Online, Express Impress Arts Collective London
Awards
2023 The Fairholme Open Art Prize Acquisition Winner
2022 The 67th Blake Prize Finalist
2022 South Australia Museum: Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize Finalist
2022 North Sydney Art Prize Emerging Artist Award
2021 FHS Foundation for Hellenic Studies By George! Art Prize Winner
2021 SUNSTUDIOS SEPA Winner
2021 MAC Gallery, Yapang Highly Commended
2021 Footscray Art Prize Finalist
2021 FAC Frankston Arts Centre Open Exhibition Winner
2021 Reimagine Art Prize Finalist
2021 Waverley Art Prize Finalist
2021 Vasse Art Award: Highly Commended
2021 Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Prize Finalist
2021 Naked and Nude Art Prize Finalist
2021 Wyndham Art Prize Finalist
2021 Fortyfivedownstairs Emerging Artist Award Finalist
2021 Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s Art Prize 2021 Finalist
2021 Lethbridge Landscape Prize Highly Commended
2021 YICCA Young International Contest of Contemporary Art, Art Association APS Moho
2021 Vasse Art Award: Highly Commended
2021 Gosford Emerging Award Finalist
Acknowledgments
Wonnarua was filmed at various locations on Wonnarua and Darkinjung Country with guidance of Elder Uncle Kevin Gavi Duncan, and depicts land and waterways of the Wonnarua and Darkinjung people. We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians upon whose unceded land this work was realised, pay respect to their Elders past and present and extend our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from all nations of this land.
Pictured in the work are Michael Heitmeyer, Alex Campbell, Warrali Griffiths, Johnny Robinson, Jimmy Whaleboat, Moses Tapau