Mia Boe
Born 1997, Meanjin/Brisbane. Butchulla and Burmese. Lives and works Narrm/Melbourne.
"Fire plays eyes to the blind" 2021
acrylic on linen
Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2021.
Reproduced courtesy of the artist.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are respectfully advised that this artwork and audio description feature the image and name of a deceased person.
The title of this artwork is ‘Fire plays eyes to the blind’ by Mia Boe. It is an unframed painting created in 2021, measuring 50 centimetres high by 76 centimetres wide. It is made of acrylic on linen and the edges are bright blue. The artwork is unsigned on the front.
Five figures positioned around a rectangular white table fill most of the painting, and they are centrally placed within a stark desert landscape. The figures are evenly spaced, and apart from the second, are seated on bright blue chairs. There is 1 figure on each end and 3 on the far side of the table. The figures are thin and elongated with bare feet and long and exaggerated narrow necks, fingers and toes. The imagery in the painting is surreal and stylised. The surface of the painting is smooth but with visible brushstrokes. There are lots of variations in tone, or the lightness and darkness, of the individual colours.
The bottom three-quarters of the painting is a vibrant pinkish purple ground. The top quarter is an orange red sky, with dark clouds. Separating the sky and the ground is a low-lying mountain range in black with a thin faint glow of yellow along the top. A few straight and spindly leafless trees are scattered in front and along the mountains in both solid and faint black lines. On top of the mountains on the left is a very small upright rectangle on a pole – it is the bushranger Ned Kelly’s helmet with a narrow rectangle eye slit.
From left to right, the first figure appears to be a man facing forwards with his head turned towards the left. His face is in profile and there are dark shadows around his jaw line, nose and ear, and his mouth is closed and straight. His inside arm is bent at the elbow and resting flat along the table’s edge. He has dark brown skin and is wearing a light grey long sleeved collared shirt and trousers, a grey cap and a white blindfold. The first figure depicted is the artist Mia Boe’s ancestor Wonamutta, Jack Noble, who was a Native Police Trooper who helped track down Ned Kelly.
The second figure is a black silhouette with a flat wide brimmed hat. It is the same height as the others but has no chair. Its spindly arms extend straight out either side to drape over the shoulder of the first and fourth figures. The second figure is an ancestral spirit.
The third and central figure is a man with a long neck that bends to the right. His face is simply painted with brown dot eyes, dark orange cheek and eyebrow patches, and a short slightly downward line for his mouth. His arm on the left rests flat on the table, while his other bends at the elbow and leans on the table's edge, supporting his tilted head with his hand. He has light orange skin, short brown hair, and wears a rolled-up light blue shirt with a breast pocket. The edges of his light grey trousers poke out from under the table. The third is modernist artist Sidney Nolan, the fourth is the artist herself Mia Boe, and the last is English woman Eliza Fraser.
The fourth figure is a woman whose elbows and arms lean on the table, with the end of one arm resting on top of her hand. Her narrow neck stretches upward and arches across the sky like a ribbon, with her head ending above the second figure’s hat. Her oval head tilts diagonally to the left and her face is simply painted with light orange patches for eyes and cheeks, and thick straight lines for her mouth. She has dark brown skin and long straight orange hair that hangs down to the second figure’s shoulders. She is wearing a black and grey long-sleeved collared shirt with buttons and only her feet are visible under the table.
The fifth and final figure is a woman sitting at the end of the table and turned slightly forwards. Her arms are hanging down by her side and her head is in profile and tilted upwards towards the sky. Her face is simply painted with orange patches for her eye and cheek and thick curved lines for her mouth. She has light orange skin and is nude, with long straight dark brown hair hanging behind her back.
On the table there are 3 objects, all on the right half. A white paint palette with spots of paint in black, orange, red, blue, yellow and white, which is in front of the central figure. This is next to a black and white platter with a fish head and bones and a narrow pale purple book on the front right corner of the table, sitting slightly open.
Mia Boe has Butchulla and Burmese ancestry. The Butchulla people are the traditional owners and custodians of the land depicted in this artwork, K’gari/Fraser Island.