Walbira and Scott Murray - Installation Art

Event date: 31 Jan 2010 - 4 Jul 2010

 

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Walbira Murray is a Gummilaroi woman from Western Queensland, an art maker, traditional dancer and artistic director. Walbira combines traditional and contemporary art practices to craft art, spaces and experiences to create and interface between her and non Aboriginal people. Walbira is a long term resident of the Sunshine Coast, with a family that has six generations linked to the area.

Initially a musician, Scott Murray began creating conceptual art in the early 1970's. His work explores arts boundaries, moving beyond the gallery or museum into shared public spaces. Scott's art discusses and explores issues of spirituality, global awareness and sense of place and being. Through artistic exploration, processes and the written word he shares these notions with others.

Scott and Walbira Murray are art collaborators and life partners.

Sorry Tree

Sorry Tree is an exploration of Aboriginal and Non Aboriginal people’s response to the National Apology and explores ideas of connection to country, kinship and celebration. What are the differences in those connections? And, more importantly what are the similarities. Art makers, Walbira and Scott Murray will explore these issues through a large installation that will include a strong community engagement component. Their different cultural identities will allow for the exploring of shared environments and histories as well as their differences.

Walbira and Scott will source a tree that has been pushed over in land clearing. The tree has a number of significant references, family tree, connection to country, environmental damage, tree of life etc. But it is also a reference to the systematic decimation of Aboriginal families through the practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families.

Sorry Tree was showcased at the Bunya Dreaming as part of Treeline and will also be at the World Environment Day Festival at the University of the Sunshine Coast on June 5th.

Below is a blurb on the recent installation at the Bunya Dreaming:

Walbira and Scott Murray installed Sorry Tree. This ephemeral piece of artwork is a response to the Australian Government saying “Sorry” to the Stolen Generations. Walbira and Scott picked 7 Eucalyptus trees which were close to Baroon Pocket Dam and painted them like a scarred trees. They then wrote out the PM’s historic speech, which was then cut up into 7 pieces, symbolising how many times the Government said “Sorry”. This was then stuck with contact onto the trees. People walked around the installation, following the newly formed reconciliation pathway of trees, reading the PM’s words. At the end of the pathway, a lone dead tree stood sprayed with white ochre, and decorated beneath. Some people said it looked very “ghostly” from the distance. After reading the apology, people were to write their own feelings, their own response to the apology, on the handmade decorated leaves that were available. These leaves were then hung onto the ochre tree. In the scrub in the close distance beautifully decorated poles were installed, these symbolised the ancestors watching.  

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