Connecting to his Wiradjuri-Burray culture through painting lets the Western Force player ‘get the balance right’ between rugby and life
Where once dark clouds swarmed, Dylan Pietsch now closed his eyes and saw dots. It was 2020 and the Western Force and Wallabies winger was painting the boots of each of his Australian rugby sevens teammates before the Tokyo Olympic Games. Thousands upon thousands of dots, the songlines of Pietsch’s ancestors: forests and flood plains, rivers and water holes, all connecting back to his country and culture.
“Traditional art compels you to be present for each and every dot,” the 27-year-old Wiradjuri-Burray man says. “But after three days of dotting 30-odd footy boots my vision was swimming. Might’ve been the paint fumes … maybe the smell coming off those boots. But I knew I’d also left the intensity of rugby far behind and let my creativity and spirituality flow. Painting really keeps my head level.”