and They Flew from the Airfield at Ngurupai

Linocut of a ceremonial headdress featuring a fighter plane replica surrounded by minaral. Minaral is a word in the traditional Western Island language of Kala Lagaw Ya referring to design, pattern, or decoration.

This work explores the inclusion of Second World War events into contemporary Torres Strait Islander ceremonies. While Torres Strait Islander headdresses usually depict totemic animals and sea-creatures, during the Second World War a number were constructed of military aircrafts. This came as a response to the RAAF base that was built on Ngurupai (Horn Island) in 1941 which made aircraft activity a familiar sight for the surrounding communities. As a response, Torres Strait Islander dancers wore these headdresses and began to incorporate them into performance-related ceremonies. It is known that a specific performance was created to interpret the Japanese air raids that they had witnessed.

Brian Robinson is a contemporary Torres Strait Islander artist who works across a range of different mediums including painting, printmaking, sculpture and design. He trained extensively as a visual artist and curator in Queensland in the 1990s, and became part of a movement of contemporary Torres Strait Islander artists who adopted printmaking as a new medium for story-telling. Robinson's work is best known for its exploration of his indigenous heritage combining it with his knowledge of western art and cultural traditions.