Our collaboration with artist, Bruce Plant

We’re excited to share a fresh new look for the Melbourne Disability Institute (MDI).

Our new artwork titled Revelation from Bruce Plant reflects who we are and what we stand for—collaboration, inclusion, and a vision for a fairer future. Bright and dynamic, the design brings our story to life in colour and celebrates the diverse communities we work with every day.

We were fortunate to have Bruce visit our team on the Parkville campus earlier this year to personally hand-deliver the artwork. During his visit, we had the privilege of sitting down with him to hear more about his journey, his creative process, and the stories that inspire his work.

This artwork will become an important part of MDI’s identity. It will be featured on our website and will appear across our branding in the future, helping to bring colour, creativity and a sense of connection to the way we share our work with the community.

Read more from Bruce Plant as he shares his background, the inspiration behind his work, and Revelation—the artwork we are fortunate to have acquired.

I was born in Melbourne in 1952 and spent the first six years of my life in Footscray. My parents split up after that and my mum took me to Bairnsdale, where I grew up.

At nineteen, I left home and went back to the city to study at Melbourne University. During the summer vacation of 1973/4, I travelled to Southeast Asia and became sick. My mental health deteriorated and I was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The years between 1976 to 1984 were very dark for me and included several hospital admissions. My first admission to a mental health facility was for three months.

In 1984, two life-changing events took place. Firstly, I was reunited with my biological father after an absence of 26 years. Secondly, I met Judy, the girl who became my wife. In 2005, Judy and I moved to South Gippsland. Since then, I've lived in the country.

I have worked in numerous jobs over the years but have never been able to capitalize on my University Degree and enjoy a professional career. I have however, been exhibiting my paintings since 1980.

My illness as a young man profoundly affected my life. I am still on anti-psychotic medication after 49 years. After my diagnosis with schizophrenia, my painting was the only part of my previous life that remained intact. The need to create and express myself in writing and painting has remained an anchor for my well-being and is an essential part of my present lifestyle.

How did your journey as an artist begin?

I discovered art in the Bairnsdale Public Library when I was in my early teens. Books about Dada and Surrealism really bounced off the shelves at me. I had already been interested in psychology. I'd been reading Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Notions of the Unconscious, the Absurd and the Existential fascinated me and fired my imagination.

Then I discovered Van Gogh in 4th Form art class. To think that he lived such a tragic life somehow resonated with me. I couldn't believe he died aged 37. Books on Van Gogh led me to the other Post Impressionists like Gauguin and Cezanne and to the German Expressionists. Then, on and on, until the door to Art History fully opened for me.

In 5th and 6th Form, art continued to be my favorite subject, along with English. I repeated 6th Form art, in 1970 and 71, and got an A Level result both years. By the time I got to University, I was totally under its spell. I had been well and truly bitten by the Art Bug.

One day in March 1972, I was sitting in my room in International House at Melbourne University, contemplating my future. I had just started my first year of an Arts Degree. One of my subjects was Art Appreciation but I was disappointed that there was no practical side to this unit. I decided, then and there, to teach myself to paint.

I bought the necessary materials, set myself up at my desk and started to paint. I wanted to create something substantial and perhaps gift it to my friend Sharon, my schoolmate from Bairnsdale High. Some weeks later, I'd painstakingly produced a painting I was proud of.  It was a painting I'd done by myself, on my own terms, outside school. I had it framed and I presented it to Sharon. Today, 53 years later, it is still in her proud possession.

I have painted consistently and enthusiastically since that beginning, in 1972. I began with a very precise, naive style but over the years I gained confidence and it became bolder and broader. I gained inspiration from Art History's main Modernist figures: Van Gogh, Picasso, Kandinsky and others.

The painting Revelation took 10 years to complete. The process I have practiced of completing and the reworking paintings often takes years. Characteristically l consider a painting "finished" only to then decide it needs reworking. This is what happened with Revelation. In this case the process was  one of reduction. The painting kept changing up to the point that I became totally disillusioned with the composition. I eventually used large flat areas of white house paint to "block out" most of the features of the design. What remained in the end became quite abstract and minimal. I felt it required the inclusion of the text "Under This Are Many Pictures" to clarify its meaning. The painting is just that, a depiction of multiple hidden paintings beneath a flat surface. Quite accidentally, the accumulation of the painted layers has created an heavily stylised texture.

I hope that viewers will be inspired by this piece to reconsider the meaning of the term disability. As we all know, disability is often hidden, yet it's impact is still profound and debilitating in insidious ways. I would like the painting to prove that "Out of sight, out of mind" is a lie, and beyond that, an unjust, damaging and potentially dangerous cliche.

Songs of Sunshine and Rain, An Anthology of Wisdom for All Ages - written by Bruce Plant

You can purchase copies of Bruce's book here: https://www.balboapress.com/BookStore/BookDetails/762293-Songs-of-Sunshine-and-Rain

Read more about the book from Bruce Plant: These poems were mainly written between 1972 and 1975, when I was in my early twenties. I was studying English Literature at Melbourne University at the time. I had ambitions to become a published poet. In 1975, I developed schizophrenia and in 1976 I was hospitalised for three months. During that time I was diagnosed and medicated. After that I was unable to write like this again. I continued to write but my focus and direction changed. The world I had created in these poems was lost. Fortunately, I the poems themselves weren't lost. I self published them in 2017.