Written Response to Brian Robinson’s Kala Lagaw People, ‘As the rains fell and the seas rose’. By Rebecca Fraser, St Paul’s Booragul, NSW.

Kala Lagaw Ya People, ‘As the rains fell and the seas rose’ created by Brian Robinson in 2010 alludes to biblical narrative Noah’s Ark and the flood. This post-modernist piece involves the wave from The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai in 1829-1832 and explores the notions of Robinson’s heritage in contrast to influential male figures of 20th century pop culture. Noah is replaced with the native Torres Strait Islanders which are leading the pop culture figures of Mickey Mouse, Batman, Raphael, Alien, Astroboy, Goop, Predator and Wall-E into the Ark.

My feminist response to Robinson’s work investigates how post-modernists incorporate traditional pieces of art into their own works and the exploration of an individual’s identity can be recognised within their artwork. Robinson’s work of art caused an emotional response with the use of the pop culture figures which made me remember my childhood such as …show more content…
The incorporation of the traditional romanticism style of painting was an experimentation within my work and the addition of my favourite pop culture female figures including: Minnie Mouse, Jane Lane from Daria, Ahsoka from Star War the Clone Wars, Marceline from Adventure Time, Asuna from Sword Art Online, Wonder Woman and Revy from Black Lagoon. These characters are influential to my personal growth as a person because they have taught myself to become a strong and powerful woman. The romanticised background and the brightly coloured pop art figures creates a distinguished contrast between two differentiating styles to create a single artwork that depicts the strong central theme of breaking art making conventions to create new and interesting