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Minna Leunig

Minna Leunig is a visual artist currently living and working on the traditional lands of the Larrakia people in Darwin. Painting both on canvas and large scale public murals, Minna creates wild and playful images inspired by the unique beauty and feeling across a vast array of native Australian landscapes - all the way from the dry sclerophyll forests of the Victorian Strathbogie ranges, to the tangled mangroves and thick rainforests of Cape York. Through her paintings, she seeks to spark a sense of appreciation for the natural world as well as an interest in issues relating to environmental conservation - during a time where fragile ecosystems need our care and protection the most.

Minna is interested in the visual language of symbols - the simplifying and stripping back of shape to essential forms. Her work features bold silhouettes, organic lines, limited colour palette and demonstrates a deep consideration for how shapes sit alongside one another to communicate a harmonious and interconnected feeling - symbolic of finely balanced ecosystems and the way in which specific plants and animals exist alongside one another to create an interactive, symbiotic stability. Minna’s work is also an expression and celebration of aliveness - of the beauty of being here. Her work emanates joy, playfulness, humour and a sense of wildness - reflective not only of the external world around us, but also of the animalistic life force within us - intuitive, carnal, spirited, divine.

As well as having exhibited at galleries such as Backwoods, aMBUSH, Saint Cloche, Outré, Yeah Nice and Juddy Roller, Minna has a keen interest in bringing art out of gallery spaces and into the public realm through large scale murals, working by the philosophy that art should be an integral part of everyday life, and accessible to all.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

This mural was created in solidarity with members of the Larrakia community in Darwin who are leading the Return Lee Point campaign to protect Binybara (Lee Point) from military development by Defence Housing Australia.


The Gouldian Finch is central to this piece – an endangered bird that lives at Lee Point and has become an iconic symbol of resistance throughout this campaign. Its survival is tied to this place, like so much else that can’t be relocated or replaced – unlike defence housing, which has plenty of other options.


Binybara is Larrakia land. It holds sacred sites, ancestral living places, and enduring cultural connection – not just in memory, but in practice – now, today. This work stands with mob involved in the campaign – those who’ve said no to destruction, no to erasure, and no to being politely ignored on their own country.


Land Back is the ground floor.


To find out more about 'Return Lee Point' and make a donation, follow this link: Return Lee Point to the Care of Larrakia People





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The Darwin Street Art Festival takes place on Larrakia land, we acknowledge the Larrakia people, both past and present, as the Traditional Owners of the land upon which we live and work. We pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and future.

© 2022 Darwin Street Art Festival

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