Namatjira
A BighART project, Namatjira was co-produced with CompanyB and performed at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in 2010. It re-tells the story of Albert Namatjira – Australia’s first Indigenous citizen and arguably its most famous Aboriginal artist.
Evert joined the cast as ‘The Portrait Artist’, his role representing not only a specific event in Namatjira’s life, but the presence of the easel, brushes and mark making, along with the Namatjira family members adding to the background chalk walls, set the tone of ‘Art’ that was being created.
With minimal props, a sensational script (by Scott Rankin) and an incredibly moving cross cultural music score by Genevieve Lacey, Trevor Jamieson’s lead performance as Namatjira, Rex Batterbee and himself as narrator, received high acclaim, as did the talented Derik Lynch, in multiple support roles.
Evert’s place in the cast continued in two Regional tours through out 2011 and 2012. An exhibition of the paintings was shown at Adelaide State Gallery & Museum together with other visual art created in the context of the Big hART project, and in October 2017 Albert Namatjira’s artistic copyright was finally returned and assigned to the Namatjira Legacy Trust.
‘CHALK ‘- Elton Wirri’s backdrop design was the inspiration for Chalk. The background was added to each show by the Namatjira descendants and then washed off to be repeated for the following show. It speaks volumes of the Aranda country Albert knew so well and depicted in his watercolours.
‘INTO THE BLUE’ - Inspiration derived from Rex introducing Albert to the watercolour pigment ‘Azure’ Blue. This colour resonates throughout the two and a half hour play.
‘WOOD’ - The background of the canvas was inspired by production designer Genevieve Dugard’s central ply-wood ‘rockscape’.
ELEA - CARPET SNAKE DREAMING - Albert was not his real name, that was given to him by the German missionaries at Hermannsburg (Ntaria).
TWO WORLDS - Namatjira walked between two worlds, that of the white man and that of his Indigenous people. In the play Trevor wears white stockman pants symbolising Western culture.
DESERT PEA - Inspired by the beauty that is a desert pea, but also the deep red colour shirt Trevor wears on one of his costumes.
SILHOUETTE - Inspired by the strong theatrical lighting, this pose pushed the figure into strong shadow and gave the feeling of isolation.
SANGUINE - The only piece to be not painted in oils. Using the dry media of charcoal and terracotta conte on prepared mulberry paper. Exemplifying the red earth of the Australian landscape.
