Minna Leunig
Melbourne-based Minna Leunig’s distinctive art practice speaks to her admiration of the natural world, conservation and youth spent on Taungurung Country in rural Victoria.
Words: Holly Terry I Photography: Nicole Reed, Ed Whitfield and Minna Leunig
Minna Leunig’s canvas ranges from paintings in her studio to working on public murals and collaborations. Photo: Minna Leunig.
‘I love the city and all that it has to offer - but it’s really important for me to spend regular time camping, hiking, by the river or the ocean, in the bush or back on home country. It allows me to ground, recharge and take care of my creative spark,’ says Minna Leunig. Photo: Nicole Reed
‘My parents are both artistic themselves, so following strange little creative impulses was always something that was encouraged and celebrated. I’m very grateful for that.’ Pictured: Kakadu by Minna Leunig.
Since she can remember, Geelong-based artist Minna Leunig has enjoyed drawing, painting and making things out of clay. Resourcefully, when she was ten or eleven years old, she created a monthly magazine titled Horse Lovers, which she made all her friends subscribe to!
For Minna, her upbringing on Taungurung country (in Strathbogie Ranges, North East Victoria) had a significant role in shaping her creatively, ‘It’s hilly country - sheep grazing interwoven with the most beautiful dry sclerophyll bushland. It feels like the middle of nowhere and a world all on its own. Each day there holds a sense of peace, beauty, life, death and wildness,’ she says.
Growing up surrounded by mostly untouched natural terrain fostered a strong appreciation for the local flora, fauna and wild places for the artist. Distinctive and recognisable, her works are a clear visual language to her appreciation and respect for the natural world, exuding an energy which speaks to her care for natural conservation and preservation.
‘I’m no expert, I just like depicting plants and animals in my art as strong and distinctive personalities in a world that so often commodifies, devalues or destroys them. It’s my way of honouring and drawing attention back to them. That feels important to me.’
Made up of organic lines and wonky silhouettes, Minna’s works sit with a bold confidence, pulled back and striking in their contrast and shape. ‘There’s something beautiful and eternal about depicting something in a very stripped back and easily recognisable form. To then bring a sense of distinctiveness and personality to that form is the challenging and magical part,’ she says.
‘[My work] represents some of the things I care about and value, my country roots and home country, a devilishness I find appealing, my considered and reflective nature... as well as my own inner wildness, my sense of humour, the more animalistic parts of me.’ Photo: Nicole Reed
“I’m no expert, I just like depicting plants and animals in my art as strong and distinctive personalities in a world that so often commodities, devalues or destroys them. It’s my way of honouring and drawing attention back to them. That feels important to me.”
Tropic Visions by Minna Leunig.
‘I’ve always been drawn to strength in simplicity; bold shapes, graphic patterns and striking contrast. My eye is drawn to paintings, photography, clothing, trees, landscapes and streetscapes that reflect these qualities.’ Photo: Ed Whitfield
Minna Leunig’s canvas ranges from paintings in her studio to working on public murals and collaborations. Photo: Nicole Reed
Minna’s creative energy is spent moving between solitary studio painting to working on a public mural or collaboration. When her paintings aren’t hanging in a gallery, her iconic works sprawl across large-scale public walls and buildings, a love which was born from a fascination with stencil art and graffiti when she first moved to Melbourne at the age of 17.
‘[Graffiti] wasn’t something I saw a lot of growing up and I was quite taken with it. My friend and I would skip school some days or creep out at night to climb cranes, spray our own stencils or scrawl cryptic messages onto walls,’ says Minna.
‘I really enjoy the [accessible and physical] aspect of mural painting, as well as the physicality and dramatic scale of the work itself. Painting on canvas is very different - it feels like being in my own little world and can be quite meditative (sometimes maddening). It’s a solitary practice for me, which is probably why it’s also the place I feel most creative and free.’
This year, in between preparation for her next upcoming solo exhibition at Saint Cloche Gallery in October, Minna is making a conscious effort to slow down. Learning the importance of stepping away from her practice to keep it lively and sustainable, Minna is protecting the longevity, sincerity and spirit of her art making.