Team 18 have revealed a special indigenous-themed livery for Mark Winterbottom’s IRWIN Racing Holden which will race at the next two rounds of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship in Darwin and Townsville.
The Darwin round of the Supercars Championship this year marks the first ever official Supercars Indigenous Round, with all teams set to roll out an indigenous-themed livery on each car for the event. Team 18 will continue their liveries for use at next week’s Darwin Triple Crown and the Townsville 500 in July.
The livery was designed by proud Kalkadoon artist Chern’ee Sutton in collaboration with IRWIN Tools and Bunnings Warehouse.
Sutton is a renowned contemporary First Nations artist whose breadth of work includes the design of the NRL All Stars Indigenous Jersey for the last four years, the artwork and story for ‘Borobi’ the 2018 Commonwealth Games Mascot, the guernsey for the Essendon Bombers AFL team for the 2017 “Dreamtime at the G” game, the official branding for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, trophies for Tennis Australia’s Summer Series, marketing material for the NBL’s Indigenous Round, and a textured cricket bat for the Blind Australian Cricket team.
The livery retains the colour scheme of the 2022 IRWIN Racing livery with a Sutton’s artwork embellished through the whole car paying tribute to the Darwin event being the first indigenous round of the Supercars Championship.
The large community symbol in the centre of the painting represents the first Indigenous Round of the Supercars, with the centre of the community symbol in the shape of a Supercars wheel. The U symbols and people around the community symbol represent the many men, women and children who will attend next week’s event.
The smaller community symbols which are connected the larger community symbol through travelling lines represents all of the spectators and supporters who will travel from all around Australia to watch the event, from the dessert and the outback, represented through the mountains in the bottom left, to the rainforests and the bush represented through the leaves and flowers in the top left, to the coastlines and waterways, represented by the waterholes in the bottom right, while the dots which surround these community symbols represent the supporters who will be watching the event from home.
The footprints leading to the large community symbol represent the drivers and their teams travelling to the event in Darwin, while the rainbow serpent represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history which has been a part of Australia for the last 65,000 years as well as paying homage to the traditional custodians of the Darwin area, the Larakia people.
The Kangaroo and emu footprints represent how the IRWIN Racing team are always moving forwards and never backwards, just like the kangaroo and the emu.
Sutton flew down to Melbourne to meet IRWIN Racing driver Mark Winterbottom and see the livery in the flesh in front of guests from IRWIN Tools and Stanley Black & Decker, before it was loaded into the transporter for the journey to The Top End.
The livery was brought to life on the IRWIN Racing Commodore by Team 18’s livery designer Nick Moss, graphics partner Ball & Doggett and paint supplier PPG Paint.
Winterbottom will hit the track in the IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore for the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown on June 17-19 at Hidden Valley Raceway on Larakia Land, and the NTI Townsville 500 on Wulgurukaba Land on 8-10 July.
QUOTES
Chern’ee Sutton, Artist for the 2022 IRWIN Racing Indigenous Livery
“I’m incredibly proud and honoured to design the IRWIN Racing indigenous livery, it’s such an amazing event and very exciting to be a part of.
“I can’t wait to see the car racing around the track and the fact that Supercars have taken the extra step in using indigenous designs and artists makes me feel extremely humbled and proud to be a part of it.
“I have worked quite a bit with Bunnings in the past, I have been an artist-in-residence at a lot of their stores in the past and it was Bunnings that first reached out to see if I would like to collaborate with IRWIN Tools to design the IRWIN Racing Supercar, which has lead me to work with Team 18 to design this amazing livery for the first ever Supercars Indigenous round.
“I was so overwhelmed when I saw the car in real life, the photos looked amazing but they didn’t do it justice until you see the detail of the artwork on the car itself, it’s incredible.
Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 IRWIN Racing Holden ZB Commodore
“I love the look of the car and it’s a special time of year where we get to celebrate our strong Indigenous culture in Australia which is fantastic for Supercars to be a part of.
“We’ve had a lot of detail put in this car, it looks fantastic and the story behind the artwork on the car is really cool as well, I’m honoured to represent it and hopefully I represent it well and put this car up the front!
“It was great to meet Chern’ee Sutton, she’s a very talented artist and to see the time and effort that is put in to the artwork that she does and the amount of hours they spend is incredible.
“It was amazing to hear her story, she’s been involved with Bunnings previously and even the Commonwealth Games, NRL All Stars, the Essendon footy club and now a Supercar.
“I love the story behind the livery and I love the fact you’ve got to delve in and look at the detail as there is a story behind every little part of it, from the footprints with all the teams getting to the track, the event itself and how people will come from all over the country to be there, wherever you look there is a story behind every little piece on this car.”
Artist Bio – Chern’ee Sutton
Chern’ee Sutton is a proud Kalkadoon woman & Aboriginal artist from Mount Isa, QLD, Australia who is passionate about her culture & history & wants to share that with the rest of the world through her art. Her unique style combines 2 worlds of traditional Aboriginal heritage with a modern contemporary twist which has caught the eyes of collectors around the world including Royalty & on the 2018 Commonwealth Games mascot Borobi. Chern’ee has her artwork hanging in The Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace, Queensland Parliament House, Queensland State Library and has exhibited her artworks in London, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney.
Chern’ee’s artworks have been commissioned by The Queensland Government, Tennis Australia, The National Rugby League, The Royal Australian Mint, Dreamworld Theme Park, The 2018 Commonwealth Games, Rainforestation, The Australian Defence Force, Northrop Grumman, The Australian Department of Veteran Affairs and The Australian Public Service Commission to name a few.
Due to Chern’ee’s passion for reconciliation and equality she has received numerous accolades including National NAIDOC Youth of The Year, Australia Day Awards for 2013 and 2014, Queensland Pride of Australia Award, Local NAIDOC Awards including Artist of the Year and has been an Australia Day Ambassador for the past 6 years.
Chern’ee has designed the NRL’s Indigenous All Stars Jerseys for 4 years the most recent being 2021, has just launched a new circulating and uncirculated Indigenous Military Service $2.00 coin which she designed and features her artwork in partnership with The Australian Defence Force and The Royal Australian Mint and has collaborated with Australia Post to create an Indigenous Military Service Stamp and Coin Set featuring her artwork for Remembrance Day 2021.