THE ARTISTS

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Kaff-eine paints public artwork globally, while pursuing realist portraiture in her Melbourne studio. Combining creativity with a strong social conscience, her projects invite audiences to engage with social and political issues. 

 

Kaff-eine’s international creative collective Cheeseagle has produced four exhibitions and two documentaries, including the award-winning feature film Happyland, which follows Kaff-eine’s unique art-as-housing project in the Philippines’ dumpsite slums. She was the first female Australian artist to paint portraits on disused grain silos for Victoria’s Silo Art Trail, and the first Australian artist to create a pyrotechnic sculpture for Mexico’s international fireworks festival. Recently, she painted Australia’s first large public sistergirl (transgender Tiwi Islander) mural in Darwin, NT. 

 

Kaff-eine enjoys painting solo, but takes special interest in creating collaborative artworks. These include Infinite Thanks, a travelling participatory exhibition about LGBTQIA+ gratitude, honouring rainbow deities and sharing LGBTQIA+ stories of thankfulness; Southern Wild, a portrait exhibition where nude non-professional models directed their own sittings; and the many murals painted in collaboration with communities from remote islands, to outback towns and international cities.

 

Kaff-eine is interested in further developing her public murals as a storytelling medium; and experimenting with more unconventional materials in her studio portraiture.

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Mim Cole, a Larrakia, Wardaman and Karajarri woman, is a visual artist from Darwin, Northern Territory. Mim has been creating art since a teenager, learning techniques through practice and observation of the art-making of her mother, uncles and large artistic family. Mim is a natural artist who experiments with and applies her traditional and abstract compositions to a variety of media including painting, printmaking and a wide range of design work. Her sense of composition is particularly inspired by the rawness of ancient Aboriginal art. Mim’s creative practice, licensed under the name of Mimmim, holds a strong connection to identity, family, country, nature and community which she channels intuitively into her art. Mim enjoys pushing the boundaries of her arts practice using a mix of vibrant colours with a traditional palette to express dynamic movement in each painting and design.

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THE ARTWORK

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Kaff-eine and MimMim’s first mural collaboration is a celebration of identity, place, unity and friendship. The woman represents Darwin’s/Garamilla’s diverse multicultural population; she is a proud independent woman, from many nations. She cradles a large gentle python, whose abstract markings tell the story of family and love. The markings Larrakia/Gulumoerrgin artist Mim chose hold very special meaning for her, & remain one of her favourite (and most recognisable) images. With different backgrounds, but many similarities, the mural also honours the artists’ friendship and creative partnership, and peaceful unity between women.   

“We are both the snake, and the woman.”