Can You Tell Me How To Get To Eveleigh Street? An interview with Reko Rennie

 

 

Can You Tell Me How To Get To Eveleigh Street?

an interview with Reko Rennie 

I caught up with Rennie between coats of paint on the last day of his project for the Eora Journey, a City of Sydney project that aims to communicate local indigenous stories through a series of public artworks. Rennie’s work distinct work, Welcome to Redfern, was made possible through the energy, ideas and enthusiasm of a select group of young Redfern locals, now budding street artists in their own right.   

MG: Your background is in graffiti and street art, how has this helped with stuff you’ve doing here in Redfern with these kids?

RR: They can see someone who has come from a similar background to them expressing themself in contemporary mediums like stencil, markers and spray paint, which they love. I came from a place that was just like this, the Western suburbs of Melbourne used to be really dodgy, everyone was working class and poor, and it had huge issues with drugs and crime. I didn’t go to art school, New York graffiti got me inspired in the Eighties and as a teen I started tagging and doing graff. These kids see an Aboriginal dude expressing himself in mediums they relate and using imagery that isn’t necessarily what everyone thinks you should be doing.

A lot of the time there is the authenticity bullshit in Aboriginal art, that artists should be doing dots or a particular style to be considered authentic. That is just one region and there are 260 different language groups each with their own cultural and artistic practices, so not every community does dots. 

MG: And often the urban story is neglected, being seen as not as valid?

RR: That’s right, so part of this process has been about raising awareness and educating these kids about what is their contemporary identity and how they can use contemporary mediums to express this. They can see that this is just as authentic as any other Aboriginal art.

MG: Artists like Richard Bell and Vernon Ah Kee come to mind.

RR: Exactly, and that you can get away with saying stuff by using art as a powerful voice to inform and raise awareness.

MG: Especially for teenagers, from all walks, there can be hesitation about articulating what they’re feeling.

RR: We workshopped the imagery all together to come up with a contemporary representation of Aboriginal youth by these future leaders, so this is their vision of Redfern and the community now.

MG: The also artwork references what has gone before, like the paintings up at the train station and the flag on the gym wall, both local icons.

RR: Of course, so we never set out to replicate or replace anything that is already here because everything has its place and they are all beautiful. This work is a representation of these kid’s lives now, in the 21^st century.

MG: And importantly, the kids are developing technical skills and their own aesthetic?

RR: They are all stenciling, spraying and marking, they are learning to express themselves through different mediums and they have this visual voice now. It’s been an honor for me to be part of it; it’s really not my artwork, I’m just the vehicle to show them how.

MG: The role of art is to express and communicate, how does this public work continue this conversation?

RR: Art gives you voice and in particular with issues relating to us there are so many things to talk about, positive and negative and art is a great medium to raise these issues in a public environment. That is also why I love working outdoors, because you’re not limited to a particular clientele. I don’t call myself a street artist because I’m not active in the scene anymore, but that is where I came from and public artwork is a beautiful thing.