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Billy Gruner and Graham Davis King
Gnurra Gnurra | 2017
Gnurra Gnurra. @ Tammy’s Tennis Court
The Gnurra Gnurra is a collaboration between Graham Davis King (Indigenous artist), Craig Johnston (architect), and Billy Gruner (contemporary artist). It is a contemporary reconstruction of a traditional Indigenous hut. It is both a place to take shelter and engage with culture. As Davis King says, ‘The work represents three concepts as one: the natural world, the environment and nature’s calendar, bringing people into the fourth dimensional universe, which is part of the Dreamtime or Marrathalpu’. Performance: 10.40am and 2.40pm every day
bio:
Dr Billy Gruner is a practising professional artist with a national and international profile. His writing and curatorial work includes establishing MOP Projects and SNO projects in Sydney and later MAP (Modern Art Projects) in the Blue Mountains. As a part of the MAP program he founded and worked as lead curator at WEST, a project space of MAP, with specialist curators presenting media, film, international wall works, and sound. MAP currently operates as a not-for-profit incorporated association exploring the nexus of art and architecture through interdisciplinary installations and events presented in unique domestic architecture and grounds.
Graham Davis King is a Wiradjuri and Ngiyampaa artist and activist. King’s grandfather Archie King was among the last Aboriginal law men to go through ancient Wiradjuri and Ngiyampaa Aboriginal law ceremonies in the first half of the 20th century. King grew up in Redfern, involving himself in projects that concentrate on Aboriginal culture and education. This included programs on Radio Redfern (1985–93), and ‘Aborigines in Focus’ for Radio 2SER. As a dancer, he toured with Yidaki Didj and Dance across Australia and internationally from 1994 to 2005. King currently resides in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney where he set up the Blue Mountains Aboriginal Artists Cooperative in Katoomba in 2006 and is a Director of the Blue Mountains Aboriginal Culture and Resource Centre.
statement:
It was at MAP and West that Billy Gruner met Graham Davis King and began collaborating on the Gnurra Gnurra hut building, a subproject of work King has long titled Wantanganura. It is that idea that now underpins the current collaborative artwork presented at Kandos 2017. King states, ‘The works represent three concepts as one: the natural world, the environment and nature’s calendar, bringing people into the fourth dimensional universe, which is part of the Dreamtime or Marrathalpu’.
Tammy’s Tennis Court
