'Robert Fielding: NYARU’ at Canberra Glassworks
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Robert Fielding’s exhibition ‘NYARU’ at the Canberra Glassworks is a powerful showcase of culture, innovation and reclamation. Fielding is a celebrated multi-disciplinary artist of Pakistani, Afghan, Western Arrernte and Yankunytjatjara heritage and lives in the Mimili Community in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia.
Fielding has used glass, metal and mirrors to create this new body of work, which he developed as part of a residency at Canberra Glassworks in 2023. ‘NYARU’ begins with a cluster of discarded and reclaimed car doors, their metal or glass windows painted and sandblasted to create words, or cultural or landscape designs. His work Kultuni (spear right through) (2024), a single car door, sits at the centre of the room facing the entrance. It greets audiences with a glass spear penetrating the body of the door, emerging on the other side. Although glass is fragile by nature, this thick spear represents strength, power and culture, as does any traditional wooden spear.
A recurring subject in Fielding’s practice since 2016, the mutuka katalypa (car wrecks) tell overlooked or forgotten stories, particularly from his Mimili Community. Each door offers an insight into Community life and into Fielding’s innovative vision to recycle, upcycle, repurpose and reclaim discarded vehicle parts to create engaging and beautiful artworks. The artist wants audiences to consider the importance of the car, the stories they hold and their persistent abandoned presence out on Country. These doors also honour the important role cars have in enabling families living in remote Communities to attend ceremonies and visit Country.
In the connecting corridor between the exhibition’s two rooms, Fielding’s work Puruni (to press against) (2024) features impressions of objects with minor ochre detailing, embossed into white paper, providing a visual break. The corridor leads audiences to Fielding’s final work, his pièce de résistance, Kapi iili (steady rain) (2024), a large-scale installation featuring dozens of transparent spears hovering over a mirrored floor. The reflective effect of the artwork creates an optical illusion of movement, as if spears are raining down upon the viewer. A singular spear also sits central to the mirrored floor and stabs into it, creating tension as the shattered fragments of mirror distort all reflections. The overall effect is mesmerising.
Fielding’s use of words in conjunction with his physical artworks is another device he uses to articulate and share his thoughts, cultural knowledge or histories. He is a natural wordsmith, offering both poems and contextual information to provide a sense of balance to the artworks occupying the space.
‘NYARU’ demonstrates Fielding’s embrace of glass as medium to create stunning, engaging and strong cultural contemporary artworks. Together they embody life, identity, culture, history and experience. Fielding’s father, Bruce Fielding, was a member of the Stolen Generation, which Fielding references in much of his work. In this exhibition, he also subtly responds to the momentous 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice Referendum and the subsequent ‘No’ vote through his exploration of unity, equality, past and present, and fragility and resilience.
The power glass gives to Fielding’s practice cannot be overstated. Despite being an inherently fragile medium, glass actively portrays the artist’s deep cultural practice and strong natural ability. The artist residency at the Canberra Glassworks has provided many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists with the opportunity to experiment, innovate and learn new skills working with the medium.
Fielding’s works in ‘NYARU’ are breathtaking. His natural ability, keen vision, thoughtful intellect and innate creativity have culminated in a stunning and powerful representation of culture and contemporary Community life. The exhibition is truly inspirational.
Tina Baum, Gulumirrgin (Larrakia)/Wardaman/Karajarri, Senior Curator, First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Australia
Co-curated by Erin Vink (Ngiyampaa) and Aimee Frodsham, ‘Robert Fielding: NYARU’is on display at the Canberra Glassworks in partnership with Mimili Maku Arts until 21 July 2024.
Erin Vink is Chair of Art Monthly Australasia.
