Robert Andrew

Robert Andrew is a descendant of the Yawuru people. Yawuru Country is the lands and waters surrounding Rubibi (the town of Broome) in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. 

The artist's works often combine programmable machinery with earth pigments and language. For this new work, commissioned by Perth Institute of Contemporary Art for the 2023 PICA Editions program, Andrew consulted with Whadjuk Nyoongar Traditional Owner, Elisha Jacobs-Smith, who gifted the artworks’ title:  ‘moondang dandjoo koorliny’—everything moving together.

The multi-panel work was formed using a mechanism that precisely projects water onto a prepared surface. The mechanism, directed by language, slowly etches back through stratums of white chalks into ochres and oxides built up by Robert onto each panel.   In the series of panels from this work that have been acquired by Wesfarmers, the language component spells out the work 'koorliny', meaning 'together' in Nyoongar language.

 Ancestral connections and ancient knowledge are embedded in the ochre and ancient minerals in the work. As they are released from the surface they flow, connect and stream onto accompanying black panels to build new typographies reminiscent of the shifting landscape and moving waters of Country. The gradual build-up and pooling of colours brings forward new stories while the cultural continuum of language integral to their creation remains visible and present. 

Robert Andrew Artist – Artworks and Exhibitions (robotandrew.com)