Culture in colour — Menang totems inspire Albany’s new art towers

Three generations of one family are among a group of five artists behind a towering art installation celebrating Albany’s diverse marine life and rich Menang culture. Elder Lynette Knapp, her son, Michael Cummings, and his daughter, Tameka, lent their talents to a mural covering two water tanks at the new Bunnings Warehouse store on the corner of Chester Pass Road and Catalina Road. Pieces by Kathleen Toomath and Margaret Miller finished off the installation. Hand-drawn pieces were scanned and printed onto 64 vinyl panels stuck to the silos. The project was commissioned by Bunnings Warehouse developer M/Group. The art pays homage to sea creatures native to Albany, but Ms Knapp said it also offered an important lesson about Menang people’s totemic culture. “In our Dreamtime stories, every Aboriginal person has two totems — that of a plant and that of an animal — while you are on Earth,” she said. “When we are on land, we belong to the land totems. “When we pass on and go to the journey that you see between the sky and the ocean, we become the sea totems.” Ms Knapp said it felt “unreal” to see her work on the tanks. “I used to sit around the campfire with my family and we all used to have a big stick each and we would flatten our little piece of dirt and make patterns in the sand,” she said. “Now with our artwork like this, it is just an immense movement for Menang people to get their art out there and show people what it is all about.” Ms Cummings, who painted the two largest elements on the tanks, said she was honoured to create her piece alongside her father and mentor. “I have a lot of artists in my family and they have all inspired me, especially my father,” she said. “I can definitely see the resemblance between his art and mine.” Mr Cummings, who has been painting for about 25 years, said he always hoped Indigenous cultural influences would become a bigger part of Albany. “I believe now it is really starting to work and I think the bridges are being built so to speak and it is going to be an interesting future with us all together,” he said.