First steps in First Nations engagement
This page documents an early step in GRAF Australia's First Nations engagement. It is not a full reconciliation program. The commissioned artwork with Mardaa and Kevin Bynder is one beginning: listening, co-design and cultural partnership that staff and visitors can learn from and respect.
GRAF Australia with Mardaa · Perth (Boorloo), Western Australia
- 6GRAF values in the design
- 5Countries connected
- ~5 moProject span
Kevin Bynder with Mardaa
Wajak Nyungar artist Kevin Bynder created this commissioned story with Mardaa, an Aboriginal-led partner for Indigenous art and design. Hover or tap each region on the artwork to light that part of the design and read his meaning. More at mardaa.com.au.
Kevin Bynder is a local Wajak Nyungar man, born and bred in Perth, focusing his art on this Country. He has worked full time as an artist for about nine years, including AFL jumpers, Perth Mint coins, murals and large design programmes. He leads Mardaa as an Aboriginal-led partner for Indigenous art and design. Kevin is clear that a Dreamtime story about Garden Island (dingo and crocodile) sits nearby in Country knowledge, but he chose not to put that story into this GRAF piece.
Project span · About five months with Reign Media
Centre of the story
Explore Kevin Bynder's commissioned artwork
Song lines, company values, five connected countries, coastal Country near Coogee (Kooji), fish traps and GRAF's water colours. Select each numbered region to read Kevin's explanation in his own words.
How the engagement began
What GRAF needed
GRAF Australia wanted First Nations engagement built on listening and cultural partnership, not surface symbolism. The team needed Aboriginal-led partners who could carry Country, company history and water work into one design the organisation could learn from and respect.
What we did together
GRAF worked with Mardaa, an Aboriginal-led partner for Indigenous art and design, and commissioned Wajak Nyungar artist Kevin Bynder. Kevin was introduced after a tip from Claverdale Primary School (Maddie and team). Over about five months, with Tabarak at Reign Media, Kevin co-designed an artwork that maps GRAF's German origins, Australian place, six values, and stormwater and wastewater colours onto Beeliar coastal Country near Coogee (Kooji).
Still water is dead; moving water keeps knowledge alive for the next generation.
What the artwork carries
Kevin mapped GRAF's German origins, Australian place, six flowing values, stormwater and wastewater colours, and Beeliar coastal Country into one design. These themes appear in the interactive artwork above.
- 01
Five countries
Five connected circles: GRAF around the world
- 02
Green & blue
Green and blue: water solutions
- 03
Song lines
Yellow interconnected dots: company song lines
- 04
People of GRAF
U-shaped symbols: people of GRAF worldwide
- 05
Six values
Six water holes in running water
- 06
Sand dunes
Sand dunes and the Beeliar people of Coogee
- 07
Ocean & mungas
Indian Ocean and mungas (fish traps)
Where we go from here
This commissioned artwork is one early step. GRAF Australia is building further engagement activities with First Nations partners and communities.
Working with Mardaa and Kevin Bynder was about listening and co-design: carrying Country, company history and water work into a single artwork people can explore and learn from.
- A commissioned cultural story co-designed with Kevin Bynder and Mardaa
- Partnership with Mardaa as an early, practical First Nations engagement step
- Certificate of authenticity documenting artwork provenance
- Commissioned First Nations artwork explaining GRAF through Kevin Bynder's cultural lens
- Partnership with Mardaa as listening and co-design, not product delivery
- Interactive storytelling so staff and visitors can learn each symbol
- Further engagement activities underway with First Nations partners and communities
Certificate of authenticity · Certificate of authenticity provided with the artwork