Mark Blackman, mixed media artist, sculptor and muralist, was born in 1963 in Innisfail, Queensland. Blackman is a descendent of the Batjala people of Fraser Island, North Queensland. Blackman recalls being unusually creative as a young child, often creating paintings and drawings for church activities and events when he was attending a Catholic school in Innisfail. He left school at 14 to enter the workforce, and after undertaking a carpentry apprenticeship in 1979 while living in Mackay, went on to work as a carpenter for 16 years. Seeking a change of direction, in 1986 he worked for the CYSS (Community Youth Support Scheme) at Innisfail, during which he was involved in art activities. This experience led him to pursue art more seriously.
Blackman moved to Adelaide in 1991. He was motivated to make the move because of fond childhood memories of his family’s seasonal fruit-picking trips to the Riverland region of South Australia. His art practice gathered pace in the 1990s, when he began to participate in a number of public art projects. In 1994 he designed and facilitated the creation of a 3 by 6 metre billboard as part of Adelaide’s NAIDOC Week celebrations. Thematically, the mural design was a celebration of the International Year of the Family, and it featured silhouetted figures framed by a distinctive geometric netting effect which would become a motif of Blackman’s other work. The billboard is now located at the Warriappendi school in Marleston, where he was employed as a youth worker for a number of years. In 1997 he was commissioned by Adelaide City Council to design four public sculptures to be situated in the city centre. Numerous public art commissions followed in Adelaide and elsewhere in Australia, including two public sculptures for the Brisbane suburbs of Geebung and Mitchelton (the latter created in collaboration with artist Chetana Andary) made from bronze, stone, steel and timber, which were commissioned by Brisbane City Council in 1996. Other public works include Karra Kundo , a sculpture he created in 2001 that sits at the Holland street entrance of Linear park in Adelaide, To Lose, Leave and Find , a public art work created in 2002 for Holdfast Shores at Glenelg, and World of Knowledge, a public sculpture commissioned for the Mikkawomma Reserve in Port Adelaide in 2003. In 2006 Blackman was the lead artist in the creation of the River of Dreams Mural at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in North Adelaide. Blackman’s commitment to public art projects reflects an inclusive and democratic approach to art, and a desire to create work that engages with people who would not normally visit art galleries. Blackman has also regularly been commissioned to create designs for logos, promotional materials and theatre sets, and has been employed as a facilitator and consultant for numerous art projects, festivals and events.
Blackman has also participated in a number of exhibitions. In 1998 he staged two solo shows, Converging Channels BC (before carp) and Sand Shadow Series, at the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide. A number of works for these shows consisted of tree bark, sand and acrylic paint on panels. These works expressed his concerns with Australian waterways, focusing on specific places such as the Coorong, Patawalonga River, and Mannum on the Murray River. The Sand Shadow Series was specifically concerned with Blackman’s connection to the Batjala people of Frazer Island. Group exhibitions have included the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards of 1994 and 1996, 16 Songs , which toured to several galleries in America between 1995 and 1997, and the 1995 Sorak Biennale in Korea, at which he was also an artist in residence at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Korea. In 1998 he participated in Isintu: Ceremony, Identity and Community , which was shown at the Flinders Art Museum in Adelaide and then toured to the South African National Gallery in Cape Town in 1999, and the following year he exhibited work alongside Darryl Pfitzner Millika and David Pearce in 3SPACE – C21st Indigenous Explorers , a national touring exhibition initiated by the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute for the 2000 Telstra Adelaide Festival. Later exhibitions include Ngapartji Ngapartji which took place at Fringe Hub, Adelaide University during the Adelaide Fringe (2004) and Indigenuity , at Gallery M in Marion (2007.
Alongside his art practice, Blackman has been involved in youth care and education for a number of years. He has qualifications in juvenile justice and protective care, was employed as a youth worker for the Department of Family and Community Services for several years, and has played a mentorship role with Indigenous students at a number of schools.
- Writers:
- Fisher, Laura
fulleg
- Date written:
- 2011
- Last updated:
- 2012
