Ringwood East Indigenous Heritage
Experience Maroondah’s latest public art piece, Dancing with Creation. By artists Robert Young, Simone Thomson and the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, this public artwork features a wall mural, footpath painting and planter boxes.
Dancing with Creation
What happens when you walk in harmony and peace with those around you and the world in which we live….?
You begin to see the beauty in each other, in our land, in our sky, in our waters; in all of creation. This piece is inviting you to stand still today and to acknowledge the beauty that is in our world - Robert Young, 2021
Dancing with Creation is a series of public art works in the heart of the Ringwood East shopping centre. A small park is transformed by a painted mural, footpath and planter boxes along Railway Avenue. Realised by Gunnai/Gunditjmarra/Yorta Yorta/Wiradjuri artist Robert Young, Wurundjeri/Yorta Yorta artist Simone Thomson and artists and community from Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, Dancing with Creation has transformed this local community site.
As part of the Ringwood East Place Activation Project, Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place (MMIGP) has collaborated with Maroondah City Council and Ringwood East Traders Association to develop “Dancing with Creation”. This series of artworks by Robert Young, Simone Thomson and MMIGP appear in the laneway park and on planter boxes along Railway Avenue.
The MMIGP Men’s Group initiated the process of painting the planter boxes. There are four different categories of panels: the dark brown represents the Men’s Group; the orange hued ochre represents Elders; the red represents the young people of the community; and the yellow represents the journey between MMIGP and other communities. The arc-like curves around the edges of the works represent both individual and communal journeys. In the dark brown works the wave-like forms represent the Birrarung (Yarra) River. The handprints have been made by Elders, as well as by members of the Men’s Group and the young people. The designs on the planter boxes include footprints of animals including echidnas, wallabies, wombats and emus.
When the project was completed in May 2021, the adjoining shop space was used as a pop-up exhibition space for works by Aunty Irene Norman, Chris Hume, Aunty Janet Turpie Johnstone and Amanda Wright.
“We, in the spirit of Reconciliation, acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land now known as the City of Maroondah, where Indigenous Australians have performed age-old ceremonies. We acknowledge and respect their unique ability to care for Country and their deep spiritual connection to it. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.”