By Tyler Wright
Olinda-based artist Emma Jennings has taken out the people’s choice award in the Burrinja Climate Change Biennale for her piece ‘Future Firefighters,’ recognising the work of a local family of CFA members.
Jennings decided to paint Upwey Fire Brigade junior CFA volunteers Aiden and Alexis Rhodes as a way to acknowledge the sacrifices made by families who serve the community.
“I think it’s really remarkable. It’s a whole family sacrifice, because there’s always somebody at home waiting,” Jennings said.
“I wanted to tell that story; there’s the next generations of volunteers already committed to serving and supporting our community.”
A long serving member of the brigade, Aiden and Alexis’ dad Liam was part of the strike team to Mallacoota in the 2019/2020 fires and worked alongside other emergency services after the 2021 storm event in the Dandenong Ranges.
When Jennings visited the siblings in the process of creating the work, photographing the pair holding items including their dad’s helmet, a fire hose and their uniforms, she got an overwhelming sense of how proud the pair were of their dad.
“I was aware that there’s the people who are off doing the hard work, but then there are the people at home who are waiting for them to safely return, and it’s a very selfless thing to let their loved ones go and perform these incredibly brave acts to support our communities all around Australia and the world,” she said.
“This is happening everywhere and more often now because of the increase of climate change natural disasters.”
Jennings’ finished work features Alexis and Aiden standing in a forest; which she said could represent the June 2021 storms, but could also signify floods or fire.
“It’s a really important local issue for us here in this community, especially [16 February] being the anniversary of the Ash Wednesday bushfires and just recently the Black Saturday fires anniversary as well, we’re impacted by these natural disasters all year round now.”
She said she was “thrilled” to receive the people’s choice award in the Burrinja Climate Change Biennale.
“The painting is about the people and it’s about honouring the volunteers who serve our community, and to have the people choose it is really meaningful.”
With funding from Yarra Ranges Council, Jennings is also creating a series of portraits of people impacted by the June 2021 storm event.
David Ferrier, founder of Treasuring Our Trees, has helped source kiln dried slabs for Jennings to paint the portrait of local volunteers including Kalorama Mount Dandenong CFA Fire Brigade Captain Bill Robinson.
