Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta and Wemba Wemba man Tom Day has had a fulfilling journey as an artist.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
First Nations artist Tom Day is a born storyteller, but instead of words on a page he uses brushstrokes on a canvas to tell his tales. Caitlyn Grant spoke with Tom about his creative and cultural journey.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
It’s an artistic cliche, but Gunditjmara, Wemba Wemba and Yorta Yorta man Tom Day has had a pencil in his hand for as long as he can remember.
Drawing, crafting and creating were always a passion, but never taken too seriously.
Until a reluctant 16-year-old Tom entered a competition at the urging of his teacher at the time.
Now, as a full-time artist who has painted murals 30 metres above the ground and worked with some of the biggest brands in Australia, Tom remembers his pushy teacher with gratitude.
All those years ago he won first prize in a national design competition for Billabong.Along with the title, he also gained his start as an artist.
“People say the journey has been rapid or meteoric but I’ve been doing this for — well, I’m 41 years old now, so I’ve pursued it in some way, shape or form for a long time,” Tom said.
“I think it's more just life and people in general that inspire me, and having an inquisitive mind that wants to know things,“ Tom says.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
While his paintings have a signature look, with prominent line work and mastery, Tom began as a portrait artist with a focus on realism and abstract styles, although always putting “an Indigenous lens across somewhere”.
Tom’s artistic process often starts with a curiosity, a question — asking what was happening at that point in time, at a certain place and how a spiritual perspective fits.
“I think it's more just life and people in general that inspire me, and having an inquisitive mind that wants to know things,” he said.
“It's really looking at relying on my understanding of the way Country is formed and the way it's shaped, but then also having the creative freedom.
“Whilst it's grounded in traditionalism from an Aboriginal perspective, there’s really a freedom in terms of colour, concept and putting my own spin on certain traditional things.”
Tom Day takes inspiration from his grandmother, Euphemia Day.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
Although he grew up on his grandmother’s Country on the northern shores of Lake Condah, Tom was born in Shepparton and moved back to the area eight years ago to join a network of family across the region. He very much considers himself a “Shepp boy”.
Growing up by one of the world's oldest man-made freshwater aquaculture systems — also now a World Heritage-listed landscape — still inspires him to this day.
It was there he learned about culture, history and connection to Country, taking a lifetime of learnings from his Elders and incorporating it into his creations.
The foundations of his creativity have been heavily influenced by his grandparents, Euphemia Day and Tommy Day Senior.
Tom Day with his grandfather, Tommy Day Senior, in front of an artwork produced for the Ambulance Victoria office on Wyndham St, Shepparton.
“I come from a family of artists, multidisciplinary artists,” Tom said.
“I think there's always been an Indigenous influence in the way I produce, but my biggest reference point actually comes from all different styles of artists from around the world.”
Tom took on his artistry in a professional sense only six years ago. Since then his work has been seen on a large scale across Victoria — literally and figuratively.
Perched on a cherry-picker high above the ground, Tom immortalised his great-grandfather and great-uncles across a water tower on Gunditjmara Country in Heywood.
He’s taken on commissions by the AFL, Ray-Ban, a background for an opera performance at Hamer Hall in Melbourne and, significantly, produced a reconciliation piece for Victoria’s Parliament House.
Recalling the creation of the artwork displayed in Melbourne’s CBD, only blocks away from his great-great-grandfather’s possum-skin cloak hanging in the Melbourne Museum, Tom drew parallels to the past and present.
“Really looking at it from the perspective of my great-great-grandfather and my Elders’ journey in a place like Parliament — where we were never really allowed to be — to being a part of creating the artwork that is representative of reconciliation, it wasn’t a struggle but a lot of thought had to go into the narrative,” he said.
Tom said the painting wasn’t so much for him or his people, but more for everyone else — to provoke an emotional response.
“Really in essence I'm a storyteller, I haven't strayed from that,” he said.
“Whether it's my story I'm telling, my peoples’ story or if I'm commissioned — I do a lot of commissioned work for particularly non-Aboriginal people that really want that cultural lens put across a particular story that belongs to them.
“I take great pride in being able to do that and I found that the arts is really that conversation starter.
“People talk about reconciliation and things like that. I think this is a powerful way to do that.”
