‘My Boots’
2021
Acrylic on Recycled Timber
600mm x 900mm
My Boots is a portrait of a well-worn pair of RM Williams boots that Tervo wore through a significant chapter of his life. Known in his last workplace as “The Stink Boots”, they carried the marks of long days in the car industry, as well as the personal history that accumulated around them. He worked in them, drank in them, and, at times, even slept in and on them. For Tervo, they became more than a practical object. They became a symbol of labour, routine, identity and a distinctly Australian kind of durability.
The painting sits within his ‘Straya series, which explores familiar symbols of Australian life through a personal lens. In this work, the RM Williams boots stand in for both cultural iconography and lived experience. They speak to a period shaped by hard work, repetition and resilience, while also carrying the texture of memory and humour.
The native flowers growing through the composition represent the good times attached to that period, as well as personal growth and change. As Tervo moved toward making a full-time career in art, the work became a reflection on where he had come from and what he hoped to build next. It is a deeply personal piece, grounded in affection, effort and the kind of Australian symbolism that feels lived rather than borrowed.