Meet the artist - Bohie
Showcasing some of Whitlam’s native plants and animals, Bohie’s mural is a ‘window’ into the local environment and the role of humans in protecting or damaging this.
Bohie has created an artwork with a “window” into our shared local environment on the ICON Water boxes on Maymuru Way, Whitlam.
The first box features a local native grassland scene; the Golden Sun Moth, Perunga Grasshopper and Earless Dragon living in harmony with the Hoary Sunray wildflower which are all listed as vulnerable to critically endangered. The second box features a window into the Molonglo River, represented by the Murray Cod and Platypus. The windows have litter being “dropped” into them.
On the grassland scene the animals are pixelated, and in the river scene the rubbish is pixelated. Here the pixelation represents a choice between which of these elements we would like to disappear or fade away. It is the audience's choice.
The dual nature of this mural aims to highlight the connection between the grasslands and the wetlands, with rubbish being dropped on one ending up in the waters of the other.
Bohie is an established artist based in Braidwood, NSW, who creates murals, art, design, and creative workshopping experiences that explore wonder and connection to each other and to the natural world. She works alongside educational institutions, government agencies, community focus groups and stewards of the natural world to design change-making campaigns for each creative project.
Bohie utilises a research-based methodology to find inspiration for her artworks, resulting in 2D images which are laden with deeper stories and symbolic meaning. This narrative driven conceptual development injects her unique authenticity and grass-roots integrity into the public arena, which she sees as a conscious challenge to public advertising. In a time of rapid change, extreme instability and a globally recognised feeling of imminent threat, Bohie’s art provides messages of hope and empowerment for a changed future.
