ARTISTS TO KNOW: REN WHALEBOAT
REN WHALEBOAT
Ren Whaleboat is an Indigenous artist based in Sydney, Australia with both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roots. Ren’s preferred medium is realism charcoal with contrasting line work portraiture resulting in breathtaking canvases that celebrate diverse features by precisely capturing every detail of the human face and body. By challenging the limiting expectations placed on Indigenous artists and using unconventional tools like makeup brushes, Ren is charting her own path while inspiring others to do the same.
SHEER: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
REN WHALEBOAT: I am an Australian First Nations artist based and living in Sydney, Gadigal country of Eora Nation. I was born and raised in Awabakal country, Newcastle, which is a coastal town north of Sydney. My mother is an Aboriginal woman from Townsville, North Queensland and my father is a Meriam man from Murray Island in the Torres Straits. I am both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander the two distinct cultures that make up the indigenous people of Australia.
SHEER: How would you describe the influence of your cultural background and upbringing on your path to becoming an artist?
RW: The influence of my upbringing definitely made a big impact on my life especially on becoming an artist from my parents and older brothers. I am one of 8 kids and overall I remember my upbringing as a whole lot of fun, full of adventures. My parents were always encouraging me and my siblings to be creative, we didn’t have technology or the internet growing up so thinking outside the box and using our imagination most of the time were instilled within me from a very young age.
My eldest brother Kingston is one of my main influences as he was the one who introduced art into the household. I remember as a kid being in awe of his artworks and murals and just observing and learning from him how to paint and use colour. I’m born in between 3 boys so my childhood was always being around my brothers. A couple of many moments that defined my journey to become an artist was when Kingston would get me and my brothers around his boombox, give us all tapes and just sit around listen to all of his music, choose what songs we’d want to record on our blank tapes then make us draw art on the cassette tape covers and the different sides of the tapes side A and B so we’d know. Another moment was when Kingston did a massive mural for a local indigenous pre-school in Newcastle. I remember spending so many weekends there watching Kingston and my second eldest brother Ebo paint this mural that made up mainly all the walls of the preschool. Those moments with Kingston were always heavily influenced by music and art.
I also remember my childhood being influenced a lot by my parents talents as well. Dad is very musical and Mum is a sewer. There was not a day growing up where music wasn’t played in the household. It felt like it was our way as a family to communicate our emotions or feelings either towards each other or for ourselves to get through our emotions at the time. If it wasn’t Reggae, Soul or R&B in my house playing it would be my dad and my uncle’s jammin out every weekend singing church songs or old island songs that they grew up with as a way of keeping their memories of their parents and childhood alive. My first memory of mum making clothes was for kindergarten, getting measured and fitted to make my uniform for the first time starting school and ever since then I’ve just always seen mum sewing her own clothes or for our family. She’s really talented in that way of knowing how to deconstruct a garment and make something amazing out of nothing.
Overall I come from creative parents who always had vision and would think outside the box about life. I believe that definitely is a unique trait that unknowingly from a young age I’ve only been accustomed and exposed to which is implemented in all the decisions I make in my life and creative journey. Though art also does run in the family as well, my Nan was an artist herself and other family members on my mothers side who are also very creative artistically and heavily involved in the art industry.
“I am one of 8 kids and overall I remember my upbringing as a whole lot of fun, full of adventures. My parents were always encouraging me and my siblings to be creative, we didn’t have technology or the internet growing up so thinking outside the box and using our imagination most of the time were instilled within me from a very young age.”
SHEER: How do you choose the themes in your work and how do you approach representing people of color in your art?
RW: At the moment the themes of my artwork are chosen by emotion, art is a way of therapy personally for me. I find myself healing through challenges and situations by attending to my canvas. So I find my artwork is created based on an emotion I feel at the time or an interesting conversation I’ve had with others that made me think deeper and want to express it visually and make others also challenge their thoughts and perspectives as I did. I struggled a lot mentally coming back to Australia in the pandemic after living in London for almost 2 years. Leaving a part of my life I worked really hard for in the past, I found art had become and still is a therapeutic outlet for me to deal with all of my emotions and thoughts.
When it comes to approaching the portraits and muses of representing POC in my art I love creating artwork of body shapes, hair textures, facial features and unique attributes that all POC can feel represented or relate through my artwork and with that feel empowered. I also am aware of the shading and tones used to define skin colour too. Even though my artwork is black and white, darker shades and tones are used to define the POC within my artworks.
Also growing up in a society that is still so slow with showing equal and enough representation across all industries especially the beauty and fashion industry here in Australia. As I originally come from a fashion background I would always see a lack of People of colour. I see it’s more of my generation and younger coming through and shifting the space and making it a more inclusive one. With time it is getting better I admit, but still a long way to go.
SHEER: Your portraits present the body in such a realistic and natural way. How did you develop your unique style of shading and linework to portray movement and expression on these beautiful bodies?
RW: I admit it took me a while to find my niche. I just found myself experimenting a lot with different mediums and finding what works and what doesn’t.
I interned for a leading textile company here in Sydney in my early 20’s and the team of women there had encouraged and identified my art niche. That is where I realised line work is a strength of mine and so I continued to experiment more and more with shapes and textures to create movement. I did dabble a-bit in shading but it was never portraits and more florals that I was creating. I was always telling myself that I couldn’t achieve realistic portraits. Thinking that it was an elite skill that needed hours and hours of practice. So throughout lockdown I had all the time in the world just like many others where I picked up my black oil pastels and went for it.
I remember seeing another artist on their Instagram live just drawing away but then started to use thick paint brushes to smudge and contour, and I figured ok maybe I can try that too and see how it turns out.
So that’s when I started to use mainly my fingertips to do most of the shading then used the only brush I had laying around my studio at the time, my broken makeup brush. I now use 4 different sizes of makeup brushes to contour the bodies and honestly I haven’t looked back since. The fact that make-up brushes are so smooth and used for the face naturally and blends makeup so well they’re just so easy to use when I’m using them on my canvases when contouring bodies in a natural way.
SHEER: What part of your creative process brings you the most joy? What part of your process do you find the most challenging?
RW: I get the most joy out of the very moment I look back at my Timelapse and realise wow I actually created this! Because I know in that very moment my mind doesn’t even think and I’m just at peace creating.
The most challenging part of my process, particularly shading, would be the lines from the canvas frame that may appear because I use pastel shading onto canvas and not paper. If I press too hard on the canvas harsh lines appear, especially in super defined spots of a body where I’d like it to be much smoother. So I’ve figured out a way of using a hard flat surface in between the canvas and the frame in which I press up against, I actually just use backboards of empty photo frames I have laying around.
“At the moment the themes of my artwork are chosen by emotion, art is a way of therapy personally for me. I find myself healing through challenges and situations by attending to my canvas. So I find my artwork is created based on an emotion I feel at the time or an interesting conversation I’ve had with others that made me think deeper and want to express it visually and make others also challenge their thoughts and perspectives as I did.”
SHEER: How do you stay grounded creatively?
RW: As a creative, my desire to explore and learn about a variety of topics and skills can sometimes lead to distractions. However, I've learned to identify my strengths and weaknesses from a young age, which has been extremely beneficial in the long run.
In the past, I used to have a personal social media account, but I found it to be a source of distraction and negatively impacting my mental health. For this reason, I eliminated the account and started fresh with an art-focused Instagram page @renyenart.
Nowadays, I am mindful of who I follow and what I interact with on social media. I strive to create a positive and inspiring environment for myself online, just like in my physical realm. Social media is a significant part of my creative journey, and I want my online presence to reflect that in the most uplifting way possible even for others that follow my journey as an artist.
I would also like to say as an Australian Indigenous artist who focuses on contemporary art, I have faced several challenges in trying to convey my ideas and beliefs through my work. One of the toughest obstacles I have encountered is being constantly compared to other Australian Indigenous artists who create traditional work. However, I have stayed true to my beliefs and continued to express my ideas in my own way. Creating a unique voice that speaks to and beyond both my Indigenous background and culture while challenging stereotypes and expectations of Indigenous art.
I am proud of my work and will continue to use contemporary mediums to express my beliefs and stand up for what I believe in with my art. While I focus on contemporary art, I also have immense respect and admiration for traditional Indigenous art, recognizing it as a sacred form of expression and storytelling.
“I highly encourage artists who are starting on their creative journeys to not be afraid to experiment and fail. As long as you give it a go. There is no harm at all in trying, failing, learning and evolving. It’s all about growth.”
SHEER: What advice would you give artists who are trying to find their niche and just starting on their creative journeys?
RW: I highly encourage artists who are starting on their creative journeys to not be afraid to experiment and fail. As long as you give it a go. There is no harm at all in trying, failing, learning and evolving. It’s all about growth.
Discovering your niche should also be the most exciting thing of your journey. Finding a subject you’re passionate about will always communicate from your heart and when and however you find that, then everything just starts aligning and makes a whole lot of sense.
Also just to be kinder to yourself, especially in a world where everything is compared through social media, always remind yourself that everyone always starts somewhere.
“I am mindful of who I follow and what I interact with on social media. I strive to create a positive and inspiring environment for myself online, just like in my physical realm. Social media is a significant part of my creative journey, and I want my online presence to reflect that in the most uplifting way possible even for others that follow my journey as an artist.”
SHEER: What do you hope people take away from interacting with your art?
RW: I hope people take away a feeling of empowerment and in some way relate or feel like they’ve been seen. Even through the emotion of what is expressed in my artwork, I’m a very deep thinker and love deep conversations about real things in life. So if it has changed people's perspective about themselves or others in a positive way then that’s all that matters.
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Cyndi Hounouvi is a poet, musical artist, and model born and raised in Germany of Beninese/Togolese descent. She self-published her first collection of poems titled “17” and is the co-founder and organizer of community project SistaTalk, a response to the lack of resources and spaces for Black women in Hamburg, Germany.