‘Magnificent mural’: Patty Mills takes Indigenous Australia to Brooklyn
By Roy Ward
When Patty Mills first arrived in Brooklyn, one of his first touchpoints with the New York City borough was its famed street art.
The Canberra-raised Mills looked to the people and culture depicted in murals around his new home and it gave him a glance into the community. Now he has commissioned a five-storey contribution of his own.
The newly completed mural “Indigenous Flow” by Victor “Marka27″ Quiñonez which was commissioned by Patty Mills and the Brooklyn Nets.Credit: Dylan Coker
The Australian NBA star’s Team Mills foundation has teamed up with his NBA club, the Brooklyn Nets, to commission a mural called “Indigenous Flow” on the side of a school building in Sunset Park on the corner of 36th Street and 5th Avenue.
Mills has made connecting with the local community a part of his move to the Nets and in January 2022 spoke about his love for local art.
“The street art and all that stuff has helped me understand what the community of Brooklyn is all about,” Mills said in a Nets video.
“Very quickly, I’ve felt drawn to that. The street art definitely has meaning to it and messages to it – the messaging behind it of being able to bring people together. That is what I learned from it.
“I’ve had a feeling that connects me to that sense of home.”
Artist Victor “Marka27” Quinonez has created a mural featuring an Indigenous Australian and a Native American while including colours, symbols and patterns from many cultures. Also included are some local flowers from the nearby Green-Wood Cemetery, a national landmark park first opened in 1838.
“‘Indigenous Flow’ is a magnificent mural paying tribute to the ancestral homelands of Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY), Ramapo Munsee Lunaape Nation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and global Indigenous communities. Resolute Indigenous figures take centre stage amidst sacred symbols, patterns, and flowing water, symbolising our interconnectedness and the importance of Indigenous representation,” Quinonez wrote in an Instagram post about the mural.
“Also inspired by diverse cultures, including African, Afro-Latin, Mexican, Central and South American, the mural celebrates Sunset Park’s vibrant community and harmoniously integrates local flora and fauna from Greenwood Cemetery.”
Team Mills and the Nets will host a block party to launch the mural on Sunday (AEST). The original launch was planned for June 10 but had to be postponed due to the smoke that blanketed the city from the bushfires in Canada earlier this month.
Mills is involved in a number of initiatives back home, including Indigenous Basketball Australia.
Mills is on his off-season break but is due to join up with the Australian Boomers in August ahead of their FIBA World Cup campaign later that month in Manilla and Okinawa. The Boomers are also playing three games at Rod Laver Arena Melbourne from August 14-17.
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