Tyrone SHEATHER
(NSW)
Image: Giidanyba by Tyrone Sheather at Dark Mofo (2015), Tasmania.
Tyrone Sheather is a young Gumbaynggirr artist from Bellingen who works within different art mediums including photography, film, projection art, paint, textiles and dance. He loves creating works that blur the boundaries between these art forms as well as incorporating new technology to create fresh and exciting ways for art to be perceived with relevance to the evolving world.
Tyrone made the first film entirely in Gumbaynggirr Language in 2008. This film won Best Short Film and Peoples Choice at the Local Clapper Film Festival. This film is still being used for language teaching by Muurrbay Language Centre, and Training by 3rd Space Mob. In 2009 Tyrone received the Lester Bostock scholarship, which included mentorship, a cash budget and equipment to make a short film. At this time he began working with Photography in the form of photo shoots with local models.
In 2011 Tyrone began the Gumbaynggirr Dreaming project with 3rd Space Mob. In this project he made films of 3 stories his Great Grandfather recorded in 1970. He also created the artwork, sets and costumes for the film. These films were launched in August 2012. He is currently taking the role of Arts Director in the inter-arts program entitled ʻWelcome to Gumbaynggirrʼ funded through NSW Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund. An interactive exhibition that blends art forms to create a tangible world of contemporary Gumbaynggirr (Aboriginal) knowledge. As well as the artist behind a photography project ʻDreaming Aloudʼ funded by Australia Council for the Arts that brings a contemporary view to the original stories of Gumbaynggirr.
GIIDANYBA: DARK MOFO 2015, WOMADelaide 2016, VRYSTAAT 2017
Giidanyba (Sky Beings) consists of seven figure-like sculptures, depicting nocturnal spirits that impart knowledge and guidance to the First Nation, Gumbaynggirr people of Australia. The Giidanyba transforms from unlit statues in the daytime to bright, shimmering beings in the evening. Emanating from within these spirit-like forms, are sound and light that are responsive to the movement of audiences. The structural components of the installation are made of fibreglass and steel while traditional ochres have been applied to the surface of the individual figures by Gumbaynggirr community members, under the direction of the artist. Tyrone Sheather is an Australian artist of mixed heritage, belonging to the Gumbaynggirr people from the mid-north coast of New South Wales. His work aims to explore identity and to reveal, through a combination of traditional and contemporary media, knowledge and stories that have been passed down over centuries within the Gumbaynggirr Dreamtime. Sheather explains: “In the Dreaming (Yuludarla), the Hero-Ancestors made and transformed the landscape with their special powers of creation and destruction. Simulating a Gumbaynggirr rite of passage, Giidanyba symbolises these Spiritual Ancestors, as they descend from the Muurrbay Bundani (tree of life) in the sky, to support people throughout their cultural journey and to guide them into the next stage of their lives.”