These giant painted silos are the next canvas for a project by Yarriambiack Shire Council who want to continue the inspirational work of street artist Guido van Helten.
The proposed Silo Art Trail will stretch across the Wimmera Mallee plains in Victoria and feature Indigenous elders.
The decorative silos benefit local communities economically, but mean much more to Indigenous Australians as murals.
While small towns Brim and Patchewollock have been heavily affected by drought, their grain silos have been revamped, boosting their economy as an unlikely tourist attraction.
Although a positive prospect for farmers and local businesses, the murals have much more significance to Australia’s Indigenous people. In particular, Wotjaboluk woman Aunty Regina Hood will be one of the four faces covering the giant silos.
“I’m absolutely over the moon about it, really I am, I didn’t think I’d get picked,” she said.
There is a symbolic and cathartic nature to the portending figures that will stretch among the stars at night and watch over the land by day.
“We used them for navigation, we used them for seasonal changes, so the stars meant a lot, the moon meant a lot of course, and so did the sun,” Wergaia man Uncle Ron Marks, who is also depicted, says about the significance of landscape.
Adnate will be the artist painting the giant monuments. He is renowned for giant wall paintings of Indigenous children across the most urban parts of the world, notably Melbourne, Sydney and New York. Below, check out what he’s done so far.
Via: ABC
