Description

Extended Data

DAAO URL

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/donny-mckenzie

Birth Place

Port Augusta, SA, Australia

Biography

Donny McKenzie, born 1966, is a descendant of the Wangkanguru people of the Simpson Desert on his mother’s side, and the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Rangers region on his father’s side. McKenzie was born in Port Augusta in South Australia where he recalls making sandstone rock carvings along the foreshore as a child. His adult art practice began in 1989 when he undertook TAFE studies in Mildura. Since then he has worked across a variety of media including painting, wood carving, sculpture and glass. He has also worked as an arts educator and workshop facilitator with schools, youth groups and in gaols, and regularly participates in creative activities associated with community projects and festivals. In 2005 McKenzie took part in the week long National Limestone Carving Symposium, an event which takes place annually at the Old Gaol in Mount Gambier. The Symposium allowed McKenzie to work with limestone for the first time. The celebrated sculptor Silvio Apponyi was also at the Symposium and was impressed by the way McKenzie worked “from the heart” (McKenzie, pers. comm., 2009). Apponyi and McKenzie have since established a strong creative friendship, with Apponyi mentoring McKenzie in the development of his sculpting techniques. In 2008 they co-facilitated a sculpture workshop for young people at the U-Turn youth facility in Port Augusta.In 2004, McKenzie participated in ' ARID’, a public sculpture project jointly hosted by the Fountain Gallery and the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden in Port Augusta, which saw sculptures created by artists from Port Augusta and the region spread throughout the Botanic Gardens. McKenzie gained approval from traditional owners of the region to create a large hebal block sculpture of a pregnant woman, titled Birthplace . Before colonisation, Port Augusta was a birthing place for Aboriginal people from the surrounding desert region because it was possible to access both salt water for healing and fresh water. To this day, Indigenous and non-Indigenous women from across the state continue to make their way to Port Augusta hospital to have their babies and McKenzies’ sculpture, which was acquired by the Port Augusta Council, acknowledges the historical and contemporary significance of Port Augusta as a healing place and birthing site for women from different cultures.'ARID’ was highly successful and later established as a biannual project: it attracts many artists from within the region as well as further afield, and an increasing number of Aboriginal artists have contributed work to the exhibitions. The exhibition series is one dimension of a growing artistic sector in Port Augusta, and the efforts of people such as Sam Yates – the coordinator of the 'ARID’ exhibitions – and McKenzie ensure many Aboriginal artists from Port Augusta participate in projects and exhibitions. McKenzie encourages and mentors Aboriginal artists in the region to explore different media and develop their own artistic language. The Yarnballa Cultural Festival, which took place for the first time in 2008, also contributed to a re-energised art and culture sector in Port Augusta. The inaugural Festival coincided with 'Port Augusta Re-Imagines’, when Port Augusta was the location of the 2008 Regional Centre of Culture Program. McKenzie was involved in the Festival in a range of capacities: he was an organising committee member, painted several Festival banners and contributed to the creation of large paper and cane sculptures of an eagle, fish and goanna which were carried across the old bridge by local school children at the start of the festival. He also exhibited paintings and glasswork in 'Ripples in the Sand’, an exhibition that took place at the Port Augusta Cultural Centre Gallery (before being toured to regional venues in other parts of the State) which was commissioned especially for the Festival. 'Ripples in the Sand’ consisted of artistic interpretations of the town and its region created by Indigenous artists who reside there. The Country Arts SA educational resource for the exhibition states that McKenzie’s imagery is “firmly based in his love of country. His knowledge of country is evident in the depiction of flora, fauna and landmarks unique to the area.” (p. 5).In 2005 McKenzie was commissioned by the Port Augusta Hospital to create a one metre high sculpture of a midwife holding a baby, which is on permanent display in the grounds of the hospital. He also contributed to the design and creation of the art installations at the Port Augusta Court Complex which opened in 2007. In 2006 McKenzie was awarded the Port Augusta NAIDOC Artist of the Year Award. In that year, he participated in the 'Our Mob’ exhibition at the Adelaide Festival Centre, and staged 'Donny McKenzie – an exhibition of hebel stone works ' at the New Land Gallery in Port Adelaide, showing sculptural works that addressed Aboriginal people’s experiences in prison and deaths in custody. In a conversation with the author (2009), McKenzie stated that he had permission from his elders to explore this theme further in his work, as well as the experiences of members of the Stolen Generation. He also described the way that, as a sculptor of public art, the concept for each work is not predetermined but rather emerges from the ideas and emotions that arise for him in each particular location. Beside his artistic practice and his work as an art educator and facilitator, McKenzie has had a very diverse professional life: working as a fireman, a pest control provider, a child care and aged care worker, a miner and as a health worker with the Pika Wiya Medical Centre. Many of these jobs involved helping others, black and white, and McKenzie spoke with the author of how rewarding he found such work, and having the opportunity to hear people’s stories. These sensibilities have informed his sculptural practice. Writers: Fisher, Laura Date written: 2009 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 1966

Summary

Wangkanguru/Adnyamathanha painter and sculptor based in Port Augusta who participated in the 2004 'ARID' public sculpture project in South Australia.

Gender

Male

Died

None listed

Age at death

None listed