Teho Ropeyarn: Revealing Injinoo's Culture and History

Ulada Ikya Ami (Listening to Beforetime Stories)

KickArts Contemporary Arts

Cairns

24 June – 19 September 2017

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The talented mid-career Injinoo artist, Teho Ropeyarn’s latest exhibition, Ulada Ikya Ami, was held at KickArts, Cairns. It illustrated the history and fate of the artist’s family and culture, through a fine display of his talent as a carver and printer, who takes risks and pushes the medium of printmaking.

The exhibition was Ropeyarn’s most comprehensive to date and offered three bodies of work that spanned the different stages of Injinoo and the history of Northern Cape York Peninsula. The first body of work,Ulada, depicted the beforetime and dreaming of the Northern Cape Peninsula, the second Umanydepicted European colonisation, and finally Uta depicted the post-colonisation era. Ropeyarn clearly communicated the key aspects of each of these stages, bringing together a well researched, intelligent and culturally significant body of work.

Reflecting on the significance of the exhibition, Teho Ropeyarn says,

Ulada Ikya Amiwas a huge project spanning three years of research and stories recorded on country and stories that have been passed on since primary school. […] The idea was to record old stories both traditional and historical so it is there for future generation and am proud that I had the opportunity to work closely with my elder the late Rev Ama Mary Eseli who held a significant amount of knowledge along with many other senior elders; Papa Rusty Williams and other community elders and leaders.1

Key works in the beforetime section of the exhibition included the Uladathat depicted the creation story, and the Umbah(carpet snakes) that made the Great Dividing Range. Both works, printed by Justin Majid, introduced unique textured elements to the print. Printmaking is an exacting art form, however Ropeyarn

Teho Ropeyarn, Killer Sweets, 2017.Vinyl cut print on 300gsm hahnemuhle paper, edition of 5. Printer: Teho Ropeyarn.
Image courtesy the artist and KickArts Contemporary Arts.

Teho Ropeyarn,Bula Bula, 2017. Vinyl cut print on 300gsm hahnemuhle paper 222x121cm edition of 5, Printer: Theo Tremplay. Image courtesy KickArts Contemporary Arts.