Miners

Dimensions: 500mm x 605mm

Drawn: 2007

See text below.

What a fun piece to draw. This work was drawn from a photo Kylie took of on an old picture of some miners working in a very young Broken Hill. What an amazing opportunity, to be asked to draw nine more pieces to accompany the Kevin Charles Hart portrait, exploring the area of Broken Hill. This region is rich with history, and is visually stunning in its landscape. It is no wonder that so many artists have been lured to this mining town, with such spectacular scenery.

The miners piece to me represents all that made Broken Hill exist in the first place, the men who forged the land through their labour. The photo was slightly over-exposed, and had a really nice, gritty feel. It made me feel how claustrophobic it must have been to walk into a mountain and eat away at its belly with a pick and shovel for hours on end.

The men in the picture all look to be of different cultures, all working together as one machine, like human ants. It shows we have the capacity to work with direction and unity for a common cause, despite how the world may currently portray us to the contrary. I will be doing more drawings based on these very old photos as a part of this series, despite the fact that they are difficult to do justice to.