The unfolding journey of art and identity.

Jan Juc-based Wiradjuri woman, artist, and art therapy student Jessi Rebel has a unique style that is making waves in Geelong’s art scene.

Already this year, Rebel’s works have been displayed at multiple exhibitions, she was awarded an Indigenous art award at the inaugural Queenscliff Art Prize, and accepted into Platform Arts’ First Nation’s Art Program YOOKAPA.

But when Rebel settled on the Surf Coast six years ago, she was studying youth work and art was simply her way to process the world.

She didn’t see herself as an artist and she wasn’t pursuing it as a career.

Instead, her journey to art began when Rebel moved to Victoria for its wild coast, and with a heart to help at-risk youth with mental health challenges.

“I am from Wiradjuri Country. That’s where my mum’s side of the family is from, but I grew up in a little town on the mid-north coast of NSW called Bonny Hills, which is Biripi Country.

“I lived there from when I was really little until I moved down to Victoria in early 2016, when I moved to Ocean Grove.

“I moved to Victoria because I’d done a few surf trips down the coast with my sister and friends and I just kind of fell in love with the coastline of Victoria. I really am drawn to the ruggedness and the variety of it.

“The cliffs, and the surf breaks and the bush being right on the coast, it reminds me of home a little bit, but it’s definitely got a bit more of a rawness to it.”

“That was one thing that really kind of caught me.”

It was only while working with at-risk youth that Rebel stumbled across art as her own form of healing.

“It was quite taxing work, very exhausting and I was giving a lot of myself,” Rebel said.

“I would come home and just paint for hours. It was so healing and grounding for me in that space.

“So, I was kind of just doing a lot of art for myself and exploring it and connecting to it.

“I never really envisaged it to take off in any capacity.”

At the same time, Rebel was newly discovering how art could connect her to her own identity as a Wiradjuri woman.

“My Aunty Lisa Evans, who is a First Nations artist, has always painted, I grew up watching her paint, and always thought ‘that’s amazing’, but I didn’t think it was something I could ever do. It was just something I was captivated by.”

Rebel said she never understood why her Aunty Lisa would refuse to paint her a piece.

“She would say ‘no no, you paint something for yourself’.

“I never really got why, until once I got into my youth work studies and we spent some time on Country in inland NSW with some mob.

“I just kind of delved a bit deeper into my own cultural journey and understanding of who I am and where I come from and how that relates to so much of who I am.

“I started learning my language, and then just started to paint from a deeper part of my soul, and it kind of came really naturally to me.”

Then, in early 2020, Rebel fell into art as a career on an emotional trip home to NSW.

“At the end of 2019 when the bushfires were going up and down along the east coast I was up home with my family for Christmas, and I just remember watching the news and thinking ‘this is horrible’ but I kind of didn’t know what to do.”

Feeling powerless in the face of fires, with only a student budget to donate from and no way to help on the front lines, Rebel turned to art for a cause.

Rebel put an artwork she had painted for a friend’s surf film for sale online, with the promise to donate whatever it sold for to the bushfire relief effort.

“It was just sitting at home rolled up and I had no plans for it”, Rebel said.

“It was the first time I’d ever put my art onto the internet for more people to see.”

“I’d never sold an artwork before. I had no idea about how to even price it and I didn’t back myself very much, so I think I put it up for $180. In my head I was like, ‘yeah, that’s heaps’. It literally sold in like five seconds.”

Immediately, more and more people started contacting Rebel asking for art works.

Overwhelmed with the response, she raffled tickets for a commission artwork to raise more money for the bushfire response.

“I ended up raising a few hundred and from there it just kind of took off, people just wanted my art.

“After that people were messaging me like ‘I’ll buy an artwork’, ‘do you have more artworks?’ ‘I want an artwork’.

“Since then I really haven’t stopped, it’s been pretty consistent with commission work and a few exhibitions, and it wasn’t really anything I ever planned on doing but once I got in it and once I started painting it just kind of felt like it was something I was always meant to do, part of my soul that was coming alive in a new way, and where my worlds collide in youth work and arts therapy.”

Earlier this year, Rebel organised an exhibition of local artists in Torquay to donate their artworks to raise money for the NSW floods relief effort.

“That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, just watching the creative community and the Surf Coast community getting alongside that and celebrating art and then doing it for something bigger than ourselves,” she said.

“That is really something that I’ve always been really mindful of, when it comes to my creativity and my art I really do see it as a gift.”

Rebel said once she had discovered her passion for art, the move from youth work into studying a Bachelor of Arts Therapy just made sense.

“It feels like the right space for me to be moving into because I’m really passionate about youth work and working alongside people, hearing their stories, and supporting them on their journey and their healing.

“I am learning and growing every time I am creating, and I am slowly expanding my creative practice to include youth art programs and mural works.”

Nowadays, Jessi’s future as an artist is bright, with a Bachelor of Arts Therapy on the horizon, consistent exhibitions, commission works and a recent invitation to Platform Arts’ 2023 First Nation’s Arts Program YOOKAPA.

“I don’t really have a five-year plan. I just feel like I’m in the flow of it and more so excited to see where it takes me.

“I really do see it as a gift, and obviously I feel very privileged that I can sell art and make money of it, but that’s not my aim.

“I really want to be using my art to work alongside people, bring people together, tell stories, tell my own story.

“I guess I’m on a bit of an unfolding journey on where it will all lead me, but I feel like I’m on the right path.

“I don’t ever want it to outgrow me, I think I want it to grow with me.

“I’m just letting it all unfold.”

To follow Rebel’s artistic journey or purchase her art, head to jessirebelart.com.au