Life After Service - Robby McKenzie

Interviewed By: Viv Kleemann

I recently sat down with veteran artist Robby McKenzie and his Life After Service exhibition at the Darwin Visual Arts (DVA) centre, which was an increble insight into his defence career and pathway into art.

Please tell us about your defence career:

I enlisted into the Air Force in 2001 with a career in communications and security, and served 8 years full time. I then transitioned to Reserves and worked in defence industry until the end of 2022 when I changed pathway and worked in the Veteran space for a couple of years. I have recently moved away from working in the defence sector entirely and am now working in the environment space.

What inspired you to enlist into defence?

I’m the youngest of a big family (12 kids), and I grew up in a country town where I wasn’t the best student, and I felt that the defence pathway was my ticket to the world. Defence people were moving around the country and travelling, which was very alluring for me. It’s funny, most of my defence friends felt the same way about making a lifestyle change with that same sense for adventure. I have also always loved helping people and defence seemed like a good fit.

What are some of your favourite memories from defence?

There are so many memories of crazy things I’ve done with my defence friends - the friendships are the best collective memories from that time. 

What is the best life skill learned from defence that you still use today?

I think the best skill I learned was being able to adapt to situations. You learn how to be flexible and to find solutions when things go wrong or you need to improvise. You just have to figure out a way around problems because the goal still needs to be achieved – sometimes you need to get creative.

Resilience is another amazing life skills. Defence isn’t always the happiest place in the world. There’s a lot of frustration and a lot of standing fast and waiting for your next instruction. You might get sent on a two-week exercise, but three months later, you’re still away. It takes a lot of resilience to learn how to cope with that; it’s a fond memory but also a frustration I had with defence.

Tell us about your latest venture?

I have recently commenced working with Landcare, which is a bit or a return to my roots. My father was a farmer and was part of the early Landcare and Greening Australia movement when I was a kid. I have no idea how many trees I planted with him. But it's amazing to go home now and drive around the area and see the tree belts that we planted have fully grown and are looking amazing!

But my true love these days (besides my beautiful family) has been turning to art. I attended an adult night course on drawing as a strategy to distract my mind when I was working in a high stress role and it really grabbed me... That drawing course was about 10 years ago, and I have really enjoyed connecting with art, so I have spent the last couple of years exhibiting my work. This is my first proper solo exhibit, which has been exhilarating and scary, but a great ride.

How did you find out about exhibiting at the DVA centre?

Through friends who are artists up here. I found out about DVA and decided to become a member about 4 years ago, just to join one of their member’s exhibitions. I submitted one piece, and then over time, I have been showing more of my work in all of their members’ exhibitions. Then last year when it came time to apply for exhibitions, I thought I would challenge myself and the product is what you see in my exhibition.

How long have you been working on these pieces?

I started most of my pieces late last year, and the last one I started a couple weeks before the exhibition opened. I have a lot of content to show, probably 3 or 4 times more at home - the tricky part is deciding which pieces to show. My focus for this exhibition was my service, my life after service and some of the people that I’ve met along the way, especially working in the veteran space over the last couple of years. The last piece I completed for the exhibition was a veteran mate of mine who passed away recently - I felt that I really needed to show this artwork.

There’s also a road trip artwork in there. I went on a 6-week road trip earlier in the year and I enjoyed stopping in at caravan parks all over Australia and meeting a lot of veteran nomads who feel free and happy on the road - I wanted to reflect on that. There’s a couple of other pieces focused on the outback and the Territory. I just love the Territory.

What’s your favourite part about the Territory?

The colours after storms rip through - you get like these dappled yellows and vibrant blues. You can’t beat an incredible Darwin sunset, especially when they’re burning off, it just adds extra effect.

I visited Darwin in 2002 for 3 months of training in the middle of the wet season - I absolutely loved the lifestyle, and I wanted to come back here. Unfortunately, it took me another 10 years to move here permanently due to postings and life changes. I’ve lived here for 13 years and don’t see myself leaving for the foreseeable future.

Have you got any advice for anyone who’s never touched a paintbrush, but might be interested in getting creative?

Start with a line or a stroke and go from there. There is no right or wrong. Just have a crack. Like anything, the more you practice the more you discover and the better you get. My first sketch books suck, but compared to the ones I do now, it’s a totally different artist.

Does your family help with your art?

I have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, and they join me in the studio. My 5 year old recently did a painting for an exhibition because she stole my canvas that I was going to use for that exhibition. So we both put a piece into a joint exhibition called “Off Cuts”, which is an art show for charity and both of our pieces sold, so that was a very proud Dad moment. Now we’re both working on our Katherine Art prize pieces, she now wants to enter a piece in that with me as well.

What have you learned about art along the way?

Embrace yourself and don’t let others put you down, and only listen to those who want to see you succeed. It took me a long time to realise that some people are happy to keep people down, just so they don’t feel crap about themselves.

What’s next for you?

This gallery has a member’s exhibition coming up, so I’m working on some pieces for it. I’m hoping to do a veteran exhibition next year, so I’m putting together an application to do it. If you know of any veteran artists around the Top End, I am keen to hear from them as an exhibition to show the talents and skills of veteran artists. It can be paintings or photography or drawing or whatever their piece may be. It would be great to find someone with an interest in videography and music for opening night - that’s my project for next year.

I’m also working on a children’s book, which I’m pretty excited about. I’m unsure how to get it to the next stage, but it's a fun side project to work on. Stay tuned!

The Top Ender team would like to thank Robby for his time and we look forward to seeing what comes next for your artistic journey!