Angela Burgler

ARTIST STATEMENT

Drew Barrymore & Michelle Williams
These portraits of Drew Barrymore and Michelle Williams (mother of late Heath Ledger’s daughter) in their early 20’s, are from images that were published in a teen girls magazine around 2001. I was in high school at this time and could not help but be influenced by mass media and visual culture.
The drawings were done in protest against the mass produced exploitation of ‘young beauty’. I thought the images were aesthetic but mass production took away from their natural beauty and originality and made them appear shallow, expendable, easily replaced in accordance with the latest fashion. Representing the images as drawings brings back their originality, fragility, and femininity.

Trees at Belongil
People who engage in alternative living from the mainstream, sometimes describe living on the outer as being in the ‘Shadowlands’. Little is known about alternative living by the mainstream which results in stereotyping and segregation from the community.
Homeless people often have respect for the land, appreciating the environment and being able to ‘live with nature’.
This image was constructed from several photos taken around a camp at Belongil beach, Byron Bay. The photos were then overlapped and merged using Photoshop, creating a sense of the ‘Shadowlands’.

Wyuna
Wyuna is my boyfriend’s niece, and her name translates to ‘crystal clear water’. In this painting she is about 9 months old, and is wearing traditional dress for a corroboree near Minyon Falls.
The colour blue symbolizes Truth, Sincerity, Healing, Wisdom and Protection, and is referring to bringing back the Stolen Generations.
Indigenous protocols for producing Indigenous imagery were followed.

Wyuna - Whiteness
As a Visual Arts student at Lismore SCU, I was studying a predominantly white male perspective of the Visual Arts. As a course exercise, I was asked to analyse and express my thoughts and feelings about my own ‘whiteness’. I expressed this by relating to when I was a child kept in hospital, and by relating to Indigenous people who were taken from their families and their country, and the distrust it has created of ‘white’ people’s culture/Western culture. This oil painting is of my partner’s niece, Wyuna, sitting on her mother’s lap. ‘Wyuna’ also translates to ‘crystal clear water’.
Indigenous protocols for producing Indigenous imagery were followed.

Kowundah
This is a portrait of Kowundah, who danced for the Indigenous dance group ‘Dhinawan Dreaming’ while I was a photographer for them. By following Indigenous protocols such as mutual understanding and consent from traditional custodians and the parents, I was able to reproduce the imagery as artworks. I also learnt how to make dance belts for the dance group using beeswax, emu feathers and twine.
I use my traditional western styles of photo realism and mixed media to communicate my experiences to the audience.
Indigenous imagery must not be used in a way that is derogatory or offensive.

Warren and Derrick
This is a portrait of my boyfriend Warren Baker, and Derrick Blow, before a corroboree at Repentance Creek Hall. They are strong and watching protectively over their group.
This painting follows my traditional western styles of photo realism, portraiture and oil painting, as well as following Indigenous belief systems of art being about representing your family, country and beliefs. It is against appropriating Indigenous imagery without consent.

CV

SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
1984 Born in Horgen, Switzerland.
1988 Moved to Australia.
2005-08 Bachelor of Visual Arts, Southern Cross University, Lismore.

SELECTED MIXED EXHIBITIONS
2007 Exit 07, Graduation Exhibition, SCU Lismore.
2006 Exhibited in the Coraki Tea Tree Art Competition.
2006 Whiteness exhibition, SCU Lismore.
2006 Faces of Byron photography exhibition, Byron Bay Community Centre
2005 Exhibited at Armistead’s Gallery, Lismore.
2003 Broadway Youth Art Competition, Sydney.
2002 Relatively Speaking, Family show at Top Floor Gallery, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide.
2001 Brunswick Heads Art in January Competition, Equal 1st prize.
1998-99 Easter Art Classic, Byron Bay.
1990 Cavanbah Preschool Art Auction, Byron Bay.

RELEVENT EXPERIENCE
2006-08 Cards and prints sold in Indigenous art gallery, Planet Corroboree, Byron Bay. Original artworks
exhibited.
2005-06 Photographer for Indigenous Dance group ‘Dhinawan Dreaming’.
2004-08 Commissioned portrait artist for local community including Bundjalung and Arakwal custodians.
1999 Group Mural for Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay.
1999 Group Mural for Youth Activities Centre, Byron Bay.
1996-99 Market Stalls, Byron Bay and Bangalow.

SELECTED AWARDS/PRIZES
2001 Brunswick Heads ‘Art in January Competition’ Equal 1st prize.

REPRODUCED
2006-07 Self-published cards and prints sold in Byron Bay.
2005-06 Photos of Indigenous dance group ‘Dhinawan Dreaming’ used for posters, advertisements cards
and prints.

REPRESENTED
Private collections in Australia, Switzerland and USA.