OUR MURAL’S HISTORY AND THE STORY IT TELLS
ABOUT US - Our Mural
In 2023 it was time to freshen up our Level 7 foyer, meeting rooms and the staff lunch and kitchen areas. And so it was we ended up with a gleaming refurb with smart, state-of-the-art conference areas, a fabulous, open-plan kitchen and common room (immediately dubbed “The Entertainment Precinct”) and a chic polished concrete and sparkling white, curvy-walled foyer. Sensational. Only ... that beautiful, sensual wall, perhaps redolent of a lazily winding river, needed something. Not just the occasional piece of art but something that would ... bring it to life. A mural!
We had, in the course of 2023, invited former AFL star and proud Kooma / Kunja man, Rhan Hooper (more about Rhan below) to talk to staff during National Reconciliation Week. Rhan had brought with him a staggering array of his own artworks and artefacts to illustrate his journey from footy field to reconnecting with his culture and uncovering, along the way, prodigious artistic talents. Was Rhan interested in painting a huge wall mural for us, we asked in January of 2024? Yes, he said, with alacrity, and proceeded to bring our foyer walls to life with a traditional, First Nations landscape of Brisbane City, using its mighty river as a meandering focal point.
The unique, beautifully colourful artwork gracing our foyer walls, depicts King & Company’s CBD location on the north bank of the river as it winds its way through the traditional lands of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples who remain the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane).
The mural is in two parts, joined by travel lines, parallel lines symbolising a route taken by people journeying between two locations. Our firm’s position is depicted by a number of persons around a “yarning circle” or meeting place. Further west, along what is now known as the
Milton reach of the Brisbane River, a family meeting place is depicted. A footprint track, representing people travelling through country, traditionally for hunting, to attend initiation ceremonies and visit family members, follows the river east to the meeting place and beyond.
This section of the mural also depicts historical yarning circles. Meeting circles such as these have been used across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for millennia for storytelling, peaceful problem solving and sharing knowledge. Two of the circles on the West End reach of the river are connected by travel lines, while hands surrounding two more areas of cultural significance symbolise the traditional owners’ belonging to the land. Nestled in two of the river’s loops are the traditional fauna totem of the goanna (south of the river) and goanna tracks, and the flora totem of the beautiful water lily (north of the river). A purple haze along the river’s banks represents the spectacular flowering of the introduced Jacaranda trees.
The second part of the mural is large yarning circle of glowing ochre representing King & Company with travel lines connecting it with seven other meeting places which symbolise those with whom the people of King & Company meet to work, collaborate, transact and socialise. A kangaroo track rings our meeting place along with handprints, denoting our staff’s belonging to our circle. An emu track forms an outer ring with the gentle ochres at the heart and edges of the artwork brought into relief by sparkling blues and warming mauves.
Images from this stunning, bespoke mural decorate our Reconciliation Action Plan.
THE ARTIST
A prodigious AFL youth talent, who debuted for the Brisbane Lions in 2006 aged just 18, Rhan Hooper remained with the club, playing 48 games during which he contributed 49 goals. In 2010, he was picked by Melbourne club Hawthorne for whom he played six games (for 7 goals) before retiring from league football at 22 and returning to his beloved Queensland to start a family.
In more recent years, Rhan’s star has risen again, this time through his twin passions for reconnecting with his culture and creating First Nation artworks and artefacts and spreading knowledge about First Nation art and culture through an increasing number of engaging, hands-on presentations with a particular focus on young people.
Rhan sources his own timber to fashion and then decorate didgeridoos, boomerangs, clap sticks and many other artifacts, including delicately painted emu eggs, while demand for his popular bespoke canvas paintings and detailed murals is ever growing.
