Building Together
In 2020, Bryant commissioned artist
Arone Meeks
In 2020, Bryant commissioned artist, Arone Meeks – a Kuku Midgi man who lived in Cairns – to create a piece of bespoke artwork. The brief was simple: This signature artwork needed to symbolise Bryant’s partnership approach of working hand in hand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Arone took our brief and created something extraordinary.
It was therefore with great sadness that we heard of Arone’s passing in May 2021.
Arone was a highly regarded artist and active supporter of his community. The team at Bryant deeply respects the legacy he has left behind and we will treasure the artwork he created for us and the message it conveys.
Here’s the story behind Arone’s painting
Building Together: This work describes the location: The Great Barrier Reef to the right, showing both the inner reef and outer reef, the virgin rainforest to the left, and the only place in the world where these two natural forces of nature come to meet.
The internal design is a representation of the Bryant logo icon, reworked to take on the forms of windbreaks, humpies and traditional dwellings.
The boat above is that of an outrigger from the Torres Strait, and below an Aboriginal dugout canoe.
To the left of the icon, there are three figures, each one representing (from the top) the Torres Strait, Bryant and an Aboriginal figure with a feathered headdress. They are supported by a windbreak/dwelling shape and all have a hand attached to it, suggesting each has some input into the structure.
THE ARTIST: ARONE MEEKS (1957 – 2021)
Arone Meeks was a Kuku Midigi man. He grew up in Yarrabah and El Arish, Mission Beach, Far North Queensland, although his country is the area around Laura, Cape York. At the time of his passing, he lived in Cairns. Arone Meeks had both a traditional and formal education, having been taught by his grandfather and other relatives before going to study at the City Art Institute in Sydney.
He later returned to Queensland to study with various tribal elders, including those of the Lardil people of Mornington Island.
Meeks valued this combination of training and experience; his work employed both traditional images and themes arising out of his concern with the issues of Land Rights, Sexuality, Cultural Values and Belonging to Place.
A Founding Member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, he won an Australia Council Fellowship to study in Paris and went on to exhibit throughout Europe and North and South America.