Welcome to Redfern or The Redfern Terrace

Welcome to Redfern was completed in 2013 by Aboriginal artist Reko Rennie, who worked with a group of local Aboriginal artists.

Beginning the piece in December 2012 and finishing it in January 2013, artist Reko Rennie, along with a group of young Aboriginal artists from the local area transformed the former Victorian-era terrace into a celebratory art installation.[1] The brightly coloured mural standing on the corner of Caroline St and Hugo St remains a monument to the culture and history of Redfern.

Eora Journey Curatorial Adviser Hetti Perkins says of it that “The Redfern Terrace builds on a long tradition of sharing stories through art, marks the beginning of the City of Sydney’s visionary Eora Journey program. The terrace on Caroline Street sits at the heart of a neighbourhood known for its Aboriginal history and activism, community life and cultural expression.”[2]

As a response to the local communities calling for a place for young people and artists to practice, Rennie worked with young Aboriginal artists to develop their skills and artistic practices, by working with them one on one as well as developing their conceptual understanding of themes such as ‘local heroes’. These skills included stencilling projection, freehand spraypainting, pasteups and technologies such as scanning.[3]

Rennie is a Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay/Gummaroi man, who discovered his passion for graffiti as a teenager. This passion for art has seen Rennie mature into becoming a skilled and conceptual artist, drawing inspiration from his Aboriginal heritage, often dealing with “what it means to be an urban Aboriginal in contemporary Australia”. The artists Rennie worked with included Nadhia Noter, Trae Campbell, Ji Duncan-Weatherby, Tyrrelle McGrath, Brandon Phillips, Isaac Phillips, Josh Addo and Josh Nolan.[4]

[1] Author Unknown. (2016) Welcome To Redfern.

[2] Hetti Perkins, Eora Journey Curatorial Advisor.

[3] Author Unknown. (2016) Welcome To Redfern.

[4] Ibid.