Art matters. It can inspire, or inform. It can provoke, and make people think. It can be pleasing to the eye, or confronting to the soul. But art, good art, has power.

Recently I travelled the three hours to one of my favourite art galleries, the Art Gallery of NSW, in Sydney, Australia to, in these surreal times, see to work of one of the most famous of the Surrealists, Belgian painter and provocateur, Rene Magritte.

Image of Rene Magritte,
Taken at the entrance to the gallery space for the exhibit: Magritte
NSW Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
December 7 2024

Magritte’s paintings resonate for me. They verily vibrate with meaning, and symbolism, and story. Magritte’s style, both his personal choice of fashion, and his characterisation of the ‘everyman’ - the common professional, or the civil servant of the day remind me of one of the principles of the public / civil service. This style was described by the NSW Gallery as a bowler hatted fellow, with a ‘…long overcoat, starched Edwardian collar and black tie, [it] would have been recognised by contemporary viewers as the unremarkable uniform of professional men.’ In my mind, I see Bill Nighy’s portrayal of ‘Williams’ in the movie “Living” which was Oliver Hermanus’s remake of the Kurosawa film “Ikiru”. Both of these are worth watching - for the mood of both - so closely aligns with the meaning I derived from these Magritte paintings.

As a long time public / civil servant myself, this ‘unremarkable uniform’ description stirs up memories of my own time in the public service. It also reminds me of what, as a young and fairly new bureaucrat, was taught to me (both explicitly and otherwise): ‘we are the nameless bureaucrats behind the scenes. We keep the engines of the ship of government going for whomever the people elect into office. We are not to be in the newspaper, that is for the politicians, ours is a ‘dark art’ of clerkliness, and provision of timely and appropriate service to our masters, the Government of the Day, and through this, to the nation who elected them.

When I first heard this, I was working within the human resources area of a large government department. And I strove ardently to understand and implement this philosophy into my work, which was always a balance between being a good public servant vs being a good bureaucrat. (I wrote of this idea here)

*‘Le send de la unit’ or ‘The meaning of night’*
Rene Magritte - oil on canvas, 1927
The Menil Collection, Houston
Photo taken 7 Dec 2024 NSW Art Gallery

And while I agree with components of this as a principle that keeps the public service apolitical, and thus, a most effective tool for implementing policy decisions made by an elected government….there are components of this philosophy that give me the feeling of waking from what could have been a good dream, only to find reality lacking.

I now wonder if we do the Service a disservice by remaining ‘invisible’, both through the reduced innovation (and the effectiveness that could come with it) that occurs when employees don’t feel they are safe to ‘rock the organisational culture’, and from the lack of understanding about what the public/civil service actually does to help the nation.

I know, as a public servant who had the privilege of designing and facilitating at every one of the nation wide community consultations for a national policy, a good portion of the general public believes that the public service IS the government.

It is not. The public / civil service is not the government, it is a service provided to government, by the people.

This is easier to understand when you see that we, the public, fund the Service through our taxpayer dollars, and because thousands upon thousands of the public are employed within the public service.

These good citizens, by being ‘nameless’, are not understood by the general public. The general public does not realise what the public service actually does, and thus different narratives about public service and our purpose arise. Narratives that can make it more difficult for government to effectively function, for Government works best when it has evidence driven policy advice - (NOT merely politically driven, or special interest driven advice).

A strong public service helps to keep Government honest, and often attacks on the public service can arise from those that do not understand this (or understand it only too well).

*‘La bonne foi’ or ‘Good faith’*
Rene Magritte - *oil on canvas, 1965*
*Private collection*
Photo taken 7 Dec 2024 NSW Art Gallery

But let’s agree, that behind everyone’s behaviours, there is at least a seed of noble intent. Behind every institution there is the same. Large groups (an organisation / society / country / etc.) require ‘good faith’ to work effectively. Without this, psychological safety declines, and trust diminishes. Collaboration becomes increasingly more difficult, and innovation is stifled. Any leadership professional or organisational change manager knows that one of the common failings for new leaders is when they think they need to ‘assert their authority’ and before even trying to understand what is happening, start to denigrate the existing structures and replace them with ideas that could not meet the objectives (because the leader failed to invest in even trying to identify, let alone understand WHY things were done the way they were done). Form should always follow function - and the function and form should be understood! ( I posted about this previously here).

“The man with the bowler is just a middle-class man in his anonymity. And I wear it. I am not eager to singularise myself’”

— Rene Magritte, 1965

*‘Le chant des sirens’ or ‘The sirens’ song’*
Rene Magritte - oil on canvas, 1952
The Meril Collection, Houston,
Phot taken in NSW Art Gallery 7 Dec 2024

While an artist at heart, and one who is passionate about helping people find their best self, I have had the privilege of being an Australian Public Servant for over 15 years. I got to see the inner workings of the Service, and how it interacts with a variety of governments and stakeholders from different persuasions. As an Executive Level employee who worked in Central Agencies, as well as portfolio agencies, I got to see the development, implementation, and management of policy, regulation, program management, procurement, and grants management.

I felt honoured to meet people who, metaphorically, ‘wore the bowler hat’ (or Public Service identity) with pride, and was inspired to the nobility of what the public service does. I wrote about this several times before, most notably in a post about the concept of stewardship and what it means for the Public Service.

While learning about the intricacies of how one keeps a good civil service working effectively, I met so many really good people, who had skills and innovation and passion for service. They, like me, were attracted to the Service because of a genuine desire to do good for their policy area, their Department, the Service, the Government and the Nation as a whole.

However the philosophy of a public service’s ‘everyman’, while designed to help public servants aspire and maintain the APS Value of impartiality and apoliticalness, also becomes the siren luring employees to a life-long career that they daren’t leave because of the song of ‘the value it can do’, all the while preventing the unique value of each employee to thrive because of the need for uniformity within bureaucratic systems.

*‘L’homme et la foret’ or ‘Man and the forest’*
Rene Magritte - gouache on paper, 1965
Collection Sisters “L’
Photo taken in NSW Art Gallery 7 Dec 2024

Across my career I was told countless times, that, because of my level of enthusiasm for the Service, that it was assumed I had only just been employed. When told of the many years of Public Service experience I had had, they almost always said that they were surprised that the ‘system hadn’t beaten my enthusiasm for it out of me yet’.

And, I am proud to say that I met many, like me, who were ‘un-domesticated’ public servants. People who knew what the system demanded, and could align with the good within all the while refusing to give up on the wild ideas and innovations that arose within them (like a forest) which could aid the Service as a whole.

Sometimes these people would finally get recognised and given permission to create something innovative of real value (like my friend Nick Housego who founded the Government Facilitation Community of Practice - My interview with him can be found here). Sometimes these innovators had to wait until they were in a Senior enough position where they had the delegation to innovate.

Unfortunately, I’ve also met many passionate Public Servants whose ideas, and years of service and effort to create innovations, were not recognised or rewarded, and sometimes were not even valued.

*‘L’heureux donateur’ or ‘The happy donor’*
Rene Magritte - oil on paper, 1966
Musee d’lxelles, Brussels
Photo taken in NSW Art Gallery 7 Dec 2024

The public service needs 1) people who are willing to learn the bureaucratic systems of the Service, the philosophies behind why it does what it does, and the very real and noble Values that it stands for; as well as 2) to create an organisational culture that enables innovation and includes employees who think differently, and thus can help to identify and build change and innovation into the way the Service works.

I know that as an Executive in the Public Service, I worked countless long days and nights for the benefit of the projects that we are trying to ‘get across the line’. I also know of many good Public Servants who donate their time, behind the (often) drab walls of their department and away from their home, because they deeply believe in the Good that their work can do for the world, and thus are wiling to put in the extra hours in order to see the benefit delivered to the people.

*‘La bonne fortune’ or ‘A stroke of luck’*
Rene Magritte - oil on canvas, 1945
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
Photo taken at NSW Art Gallery on 7 Dec 2024

The Public Service in Australia, and I daresay in every country, should not be the government. It should remain apolitical and impartial, and be a service that the people supply to their government in order for the government to most effectively look after the shared Good for the people.

It is my belief that every civil / public service should have for its purpose, the provision of impartial, evidence based advice and service, delivered in an accountable, respectful and ethical way, by stewards of the public good who are committed to service in their roles.

As I look around the world lately, I am increasingly dismayed at the rise of ‘leaders’ who are seeking influence for their own purposes, and not the public Good. Leaders who, in order to consolidate power and influence, are diminishing the power of their public service - making their constituents believe that the public service is ‘big government’ and is ‘corrupt’ - while at the very same time reducing it’s power for governance and oversight.

Magritte’s paintings of the bowler hatted ‘everyman’ have always served as a reminder to me of the potential innovations that the public servant can bring to their work, and the idea that these people are ‘the people’. They are the neighbours and individuals of our community who have been called to serve in order that we may have a more effective way of implementing the governance of our community.

Art matters. Deeply. It can inspire or inform. It can provoke, and make people think. It can be pleasing to the eye, or confronting to the soul. But art, good art, has power.

With the hope that my art, writing, and the art of Magritte helped you to gain insights on your path,

James

A public servant’s perspective on why art matters

Finding abundance