I RECENTLY spent a fascinating morning at Artespresso café in Kingston with owner Murray Mortimer, as he explained to me his idea of stirring patrons up a bit with art that makes you think.

Mortimer welcomes ideas for art of this kind, but in the first instance he is showcasing a set of portraits that caught his eyes when he saw them at Huskisson.

They have been executed by a male nurse who spent time in Groote Eylandt (Anindilyakwa) as an “innocent participant” in the Intervention four and a half years ago, and who was deeply touched by the lives of the Indigenous Australians he met there.

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No artistic novice, Jonathan Wheeldon attended National Art School from 1974-76, later taking up nursing.

Speaking of his experiences in Anindilyakwa, Wheeldon says: “I did not know my life was to be radically changed from that day…after that, I’ve worked as a Remote Area Nurse in the clinics of the islands and grew an enduring appreciation for these people of an ancient land, their hopes, fears, joys and terrible sadness.”

This is art with perspective. The joy, the pain, the tragedy, all can be seen in the faces of his subjects.

“These people are awesome just as they are,” he says.

“Our Government likes to proscribe and be seen to be ‘doing stuff’,” Wheeldon says, but the reality is that “Aboriginal peoples need to live in their own homelands, where their social, educational, health and employment issues can be resolved, over time”.

Jonathan Wheeldon’s “Anindilyakwa to Numbulwar – Portraits from anIsland..and..beyond” are on show at Artespresso,31 Giles Street Kingston.

If you are interested in exhibiting your paintings, phone Murray Mortimer at 0438 892 742.