Paul Ramsay Foundation

Project

Yirranma Place, Paul Ramsay Foundation

William Brian ‘Badger’ Bates, Sharing Barkandji stories of land, water and sky, 2022, forged steel gates and ceiling painting, gates: 3 × 10.75m; ceiling painting: 4.45 × 10.75m. Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF) Sydney headquarters

William Brian ‘Badger’ Bates, Sharing Barkandji stories of land, water and sky (2022), Yirranma Place, Paul Ramsay Foundation headquarters

Artwork William Brian ‘Badger’ Bates, Sharing Barkandji stories of land, water and sky, 2022, forged steel gates and ceiling painting, gates: 3 × 10.75m; ceiling painting: 4.45 × 10.75m.

LocationPaul Ramsay Foundation headquarters, 262 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney

CommissionerPaul Ramsay Foundation

Architects SJB

CuratorBarbara Flynn, Art Advisor

Photography Mark Pokorny

Downloads
Preliminary Public Art Plan

William Brian ‘Badger’ Bates is a Barkandji man, born 1947 in Wilcannia, New South Wales, who lives and works in Wilcannia and Broken Hill. He is a distinguished Barkandji traditional owner and leader whose work with and for his community is substantial and profound. As an Aboriginal Sites Officer for NSW National Parks and Wildlife, he worked for 21 years until he retired in 2005. Since then, he has contributed his time to sitting on boards and committees, including the Joint Management Committees of Paroo-Darling National Park and Toorale National Park, and the Mutawintji National Park Board of Management. He teaches young people about Barkandji culture. He is a widely recognised and respected activist and advocate for the health of the Barka, the Darling River. And he makes his art, including exhibiting his work, taking up artist residencies and realising public artworks. Bates was a participating artist in the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, titled rivus (12 March – 13 June 2022), the pre-eminent exhibition of international contemporary art in Australia. His works are in the collections of the Australian Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia and Broken Hill Regional Gallery among other collections.
The gates were forged from steel under the direction of Matt Mewburn at Eveleigh Works in South Eveleigh, New South Wales. According to the Smithsonian Institute (Washington, DC), Eveleigh Works is ‘the largest and most integral collection of Victorian blacksmithing equipment, in terms of integrity and extent, known in the western world’. Mewburn was the perfect collaborator for Bates who has said that when they met, ‘it was just like we had known each other forever’.

Blacksmithing is an art that relies on the kind of linework Bates employs in his linocutsand carved objects. When the water dries up it leaves cracks in the ground that inspire hisuse of line. Wavy lines may recall the movement of the water when the turtle is swimming, bringing the water alive. He says, ‘These lines are what [my] grandmother used to carve on boomerangs, and take you right back to the billabong, like in a dream.’ Seeing the art of Antoni Gaudí on a visit to Barcelona in 2012 – La Pedrera is a wonder of the art of ironwork – was another important inspiration that would give the artist the confidence to work in metal on a large scale.
The three panel-configuration of the gates lends itself perfectly to the artist’s vision to depict the stories that are critical to his life and world view, and the world view of the Barkandji people. The central panel tells the story of the Seven Sisters who, as in the story handed down through time, appear to be drawn up to the sky. The Ngatyi (Rainbow Serpent) is depicted on the left-hand panel against a backdrop of Barkandji country and south-western New South Wales. The right-hand panel depicts the Makwarra, or eagle, and the Kilparra, crow, the two moieties of the Barkandji people. Bates is a Makwarra person, and says, when the eagle flies, ‘that's me coming back to my Country, and the crows have never left – they’re still there protecting people’. The lily forms recall when the big white flowers of the Barka lilies reappeared after the Barka started to flow following a decade of drought. The message that Bates understood from that was, ‘when we look after Country, everything can grow’.

The ceiling depicts the story of the emu in the sky. The colours of the painting are black and white, which the artist explains are his signature colours: ‘My work relates to what I see in the landscape all around me in Barkandji country. For me, Australia is a black and white country. Barkandji country [is] not colourful all year long, and not anything like Central Desert country and its art of many colours.’ The gap between the top of the gates and the ceiling acts as a metaphor for the transition from day to night, and from earth to sky. Quoting Bates, ‘Day and earth will be the province of the gates, and night and sky of the ceiling painting above.’
The Ngatyi, Seven Sisters, eagle, crow, and emu in the sky are stories shared by Aboriginal people Australiawide. Bates may tell them in a Barkandji way, but they are universal. Apparent to any observer, Bates has achieved everything he set out to do when he said at the start of the project: ‘I want to encourage other Aboriginal people and everyone walking past the gates to have a look, identify with and share the creation stories, look up at the ceiling, and feel encouraged to go into the building.’

Text by Barbara Flynn, February 2022

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