Sean Burns, Like Thunder (July theme: Eyes)

This is a portrait of Urrunga Whyman. Urrunga is a Yorta Yorta artist currently living under the Elizabeth street viaduct on Eddy Avenue in Sydney. The bridge is made from sandstone extracted from Government Quarry in Maroubra (meaning “like thunder” in the Dharawal language). Urrunga is a member of the stolen generation. Taken at birth, he was only reunited with his siblings as a teenager. His massive mural depicts his brothers as well as other members of the Yorta Yorta nation. The mural also depicts the natural wonders of the Australian landscape, such as Uluru and the 3 sisters. He employs a diverse range of methods to achieve this stunning urban display; including spray paint, collage, dot painting and broad brush patterns. This is a mural by an indigenous man stolen at birth, painted on stone ripped from the earth on stolen land. And like the areas this stone was quarried from, Urrunga’s mural hits you “like thunder”.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.