Image: Robert ANDREW between language and country II (detail) 2024, saltwater, iron oxide, and electro-mechanical components. With thanks to Mabu Yawuru Ngan-ga for gifting Yawuru Language to this artwork. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
This work is comprised of saltwater, iron oxide and electro-mechanical components and will appear on a horizontal black platform 1.8 metres wide with a length of 2.7 metres. It is a time-based installation work that will change in size and scale over the period of the exhibition, a total of 16 weeks.
Saltwater slowly drips from a mechanism attached to the ceiling approximately 2.5 metres from the platform on the floor. The mechanism moves from left to right then back again. Similar to the mechanics of a typewriter this gradual and methodical action in turn begins to build and reveal a written word in Yawuru Ngang-na on the platform below, the grains of the saltwater leaving a residue sitting slightly raised and textural upon the platform.
The white crystalline material persistently grows on the platform below to begin to reveal the shape of four capital letters, B, U, R, U. Gradually appearing over the course of the exhibition period, these letters spell out Buru, translating to everything around you that you can see from the earth to the sky and also time in the Yawuru language.
between language and country II invites you to stop, listen, and observe, as saltwater gently falls from above — building and dismantling a written word in Yawuru Ngang-na, the artist's ancestral tongue.
Robert Andrew is a descendant of the Yawuru people, whose Country is the lands and waters of the Broome area in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia. Andrew's work investigates the personal and family histories that have been denied or forgotten. His work speaks to the past yet articulates a contemporary relationship to his Country — utilising technology to make visible the interconnecting spiritual, cultural, physical, and historical relationships with the land, waters, sky, and all living things. Andrew's work often combines programmable machinery with earth pigments, ochres, rocks and soil to explore historical, cultural and personal events that have been buried and left unspoken.
The artist wishes to extend his thanks to Mabu Yawuru Ngan-ga for gifting Yawuru Language to this artwork.