Noongar artists and father-son duo Peter Farmer and Peter Farmer Junior are still coming to terms with the fact their artwork was selected from hundreds of others to feature on the Australian Olympic team uniforms in Los Angeles in 2028 and the French Alps in 2030.
The Farmers spent six months creating the green and gold contemporary Indigenous artwork titled Doonch-doonch, Kaymelan, Together, alongside Torres Strait Islander artist Alick Tipoti, with the special design to represent both cultures on the international stage.
Meaning ‘coming together’ in Noongar and ‘together’ in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait), the official team artwork is woven from these Indigenous visual languages and honours the 66 known Indigenous Olympians, carried together as a wave, an expression of unity across land, sea and sky.
Across generations, communities and cultures, it represents one shared story.
Peter Snr said he was “overwhelmed” and “humbled” to be given the opportunity alongside his son, with Peter Jnr adding it was “one of the biggest jobs of his career”.
“There’s a lot of high-grade artists out there that we had to be selected against, and we’re just really proud and grateful that they chose us,” Peter Jnr said.
Peter Jnr said he felt lucky to be involved in a project with his father and a “phenomenal” creative team that had so much meaning to WA and Australia as a whole.
“It’s hard to put into words, but I think not a lot of artists or people get to work professionally with their parents, so being able to do that, I think, is very rare,” he said.
“Any kind of work or opportunity that’s able to showcase Aboriginal art, or especially Noongar art from WA, I think, is a great thing, and you know the fact that we get to do it on a big stage is even more incredible.”
The Noongar symbolism consists of connection, community and the significance of water while Torres Strait Islanders are represented through weaving patterns, canoe motifs and constellation stars.
He said he is still trying to take in the emotions from such a large-scale opportunity.
“Initially, it was really hard to comprehend, or even take all the kinds of emotions and everything, and really kind of process what we’re actually doing, just because it’s an opportunity that’s going to present our artwork to the world,” he said.
“Even now, I look at the artwork, and I look at the process that we went through, and the last few months of work, and I’m very starstruck in a way, because you don’t usually get these jobs... It’s amazing, everything about it is amazing.”
The Farmers hope to go over for the Olympics to see their work in action and are most excited to watch the track and field and basketball events.
“I think it’s really important to go over there and see the artwork, and to be a part of the fan base for the Australian athletes, they’re representing themselves and all the hard work they put in to get there, but they’re also representing the artwork and Australia, so it’s very special thing,” Peter Jnr said.
The uniform is set to be unveiled in the next six months.
The duo have collaborated on several projects in the past including working with Coldplay to design artwork featured on the rear of limited-edition t-shirts sold at the band’s Perth concerts in November 2023.
The design was made up of three separate spheres, symbolising past, present and the spirit.
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