Aboriginal Artbook

A B O R I G I N A L A R TC O L L E C T I O N

Introduction 04

Barbara Weir 06

Anna Price Petyarre 08

Kathleen Petyarre 10

Janelle Stockman Napaltjarri 12

Ronnie Tjampitjinpa 14

Minnie Pwerle 16

Betsy Napangardi Lewis 22

Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri 24

Dolly Petyarre Mills 28

Evelyn Pultara 30

Freddie Timms 34

Gloria Tamerre Petyarre 36

Jack Dale 42

Judy Napangardi Watson 44

Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa 48

Kudditiji Kngwarreye 50

Liddy Napanangka Walker 58

Mary Anne Nampijinpa Michaels 60

Ningura Napurrula 62

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri 64

Wendy Darby 66

Wentja Napaltjarri 68

Gracie Ward Napaltjarri 70

Jeannie Mills Pwerl 72

M. J. Sally Gabori 74

Gordon Syron 76

Roy Mcivor 78

Sarrita King 80

Mervyn Numbagardie 82

Jorna Newberry 84

Alma Nungurrayi Granites 86

Nyree Ngari Reynolds 88

Dawn Ngala Wheeler 100

C O L L E C T I O N B Y D I E T E R & L I L I A N S C H M I D T

A B O R I G I N A L A R T

Australian Aboriginal art is one of the oldest continu-ing art traditions in the world. Much of the most impor-tant knowledge of aboriginal society was conveyed through different kinds of storytelling — including narratives that were spoken, performed as dances or songs, and those that were painted.

Traditional symbols are an essential part of much con-temporary Aboriginal art. Aboriginal peoples have long artistic traditions within which they use conventi-onal designs and symbols.

These designs when applied to any surface, whether on the body of a person taking part in a ceremony or on a shield, have the power to transform the object to one with religious significance and power. Australian Aboriginal contemporary traditional work depicts the-mes connected to the „Dreamtime“ and are frequent-ly called „Dreamings“

„The Dreamtime is the period in which creative acts were performed by the first ancestors of men -- spirits, heros and heroines, who established the pattern of nature and life, and created man‘s environment.

The Dreamtime is a process as well as a period: it had its beginning when the world was young and unfor-med, but it has never ceased. The ancestor who esta-blished law and patterns of behavior is as alive today as when he performed his original creative acts. The sacred past, the Dreamtime, is for Aborigines also the sacred present, the Eternal Dreamtime.“

THE DREAMING

Dreaming does not convey the fullness of the con-cept for Aboriginal people, but is the most acceptable English word to Aboriginal people. The word is accep-table because very often revelations or insights are received in dreams or recurring visions. The Dreaming refers to all that is known and all that is understood. It

is the way Aboriginal people explain life and how their world came into being. It is central to the existence of traditional Aboriginal people, their lifestyle and their culture, for it determines their values and beliefs and their relationship with every living creature and every feature of the landscape.

JOURNEY OF THE CREATOR ANCESTORS

The Dreaming tells of the journeys and deeds of crea-tor ancestors. The creator ancestors made the trees, rocks, waterholes, rivers, mountains and stars, as well as the animals and plants, and their spirits inhabit these features of the natural world today. Good and bad behaviours are demonstrated in Dreaming sto-ries as ancestors hunt, marry, care for children and defend themselves from their enemies.

CONCEPT OF TIME

The Dreaming is often understood as a period of time, but this European concept of a unit of time in past does not contain the full meaning. The Dreaming is not some long past era but a continuous entity, from which people come, which people renew and which people go back to.

Art is one of the ways through which Aboriginal peo-ple communicate with and maintain a oneness with the Dreaming. When people take on the characteris-tics of the Dreaming ancestors through dance, song and art and when they maintain sacred sites, the spi-rits of the creator ancestors are renewed.

THE INDIVIDUAL‘S LINK WITH THE DREAMING

For Aboriginal people who follow traditional beliefs, the Dreaming is intensely personal. Each person is linked to it by his or her individual Dreaming (or to-tem). This belief involves the idea that the creator ancestors, who were physically alive in the natural features of the landscape in which they once moved.

INTRODUCTION

04

OUR ‚COUNTRY‘

It is the natural world, which therefore provides the link between the people and the Dreaming, especially the land (or ‚country‘) to which a person belongs.

Aboriginal people see themselves as related to, and part of, this natural world and know its features in in-tricate detail. This relationship carries responsibilities for its survival and continuity so that each person has special obligations to protect and preserve the spirit of the land and the life forms that are a part of it.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The Dreaming is as important to Aboriginal people as the Christian Bible and the whole ethos of Christian belief is to the devout Christian.

The Dreaming is still vitally important to today‘s Abori-ginal people. It gives a social and spiritual base and links them to their cultural heritage. Many Aboriginal people are Christian as well as having a continuing belief in their Dreaming.

In some areas, where Aboriginal people may no lon-ger have the full knowledge of their Dreaming, they still retain strong spirituality, kinship practices and tra-ditional values and beliefs.

ART FORMS

Aboriginal people traditionally used the materials available to them to symbolise the Dreaming and their world. As a result, art forms varied in different are-as of Australia.

In the central desert, ground drawing was a very im-portant style of art, and throughout Australia rock art as well as body painting and decoration were com-mon, although varying in styles, method, materials and meaning. There is and was a wide range of tradi-tional Aboriginal art forms.

05

BARBARA WEIR

STORY

GRASS SEED DREAMING

Synthetic Polymer on Canvas120 x 90 cm

2004

Barbara Weir was born in 1945 at what was formerly

known as Bundy River Station in the region of Utopia,

240 km northeast of Alice Springs. Her country is Atnwen-

gerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarr.

Barbara‘s mother is Aboriginal and her father is Irish, and

because she was a child of mixed parentage she was

taken away from her family at the age of nine. During

these years she lost contact with her family, but was de-

termined to return and reclaim her heritage.

In the late 1960s she finally returned to Utopia with her

six children, to be reunited with the famous late Emily

Kame Kngwarreye who had looked after her as a small

child. She began to relearn the languages of her peo-

ple. Through her renewed special relationship with Emily

Kngwarreye, Barbara‘s talent and interest in art was en-

couraged and began to flourish.

Barbara Weir‘s Dreamings are: Bush Berry, Grass Seed,

Wild Flower and My Mother‘s Country, which she paints

with an explosive mixture of Aboriginal spirituality and

modern white culture. She is represented in major priva-

te and public collections including the Holmes a Court

Collection and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

In the Utopia region, there are many varieties of grasses to be

found. One such type is found in the spinifex, sand plains, and

sandhills that produce a seed that is collected, crushed and

made into a paste to produce a bread that the people eat.

This grass can grow up to 15 cm high and is reddish in colour.

It is found throughout the year, but is particularly abundant

after a fall of rain. Due to the grazing of cattle and rabbits the

grass is not as plentiful and the seeds are harder to collect.

In years gone, the Aboriginal people collected these seeds in

a most unusual way. Due to the seeds ripening at different sta-

ges, many would fall to the ground and be covered by sand

and lost from view. The Aboriginal people would look for the

nesting site of a particular ant.

This ant, collected the seeds, and ate a certain portion and

then discarded the rest. The discarded seeds would be found

in a pile just outside the nest, where it was collected, cleaned

and then ground into a thick paste to produce the damper or

bread - an important source of food for the Aboriginal people.

The practice of making this bread is not in much use today,

due to the introduction of ready made bread.

This grass is important to Barbara. The small brush strokes in

warm colours overlap and weave to create a swaying effect

like the movement of native grass. The Dreaming for this grass

seed has been passed down to her by her ancestors.

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07

ANNA PRICE PETYARRE

STORY

SANDHILLS AND WATERCOURSE

Acrylic on Canvas148 x 90 cm

2008

Anna Price Petyarre is an eastern Anmatyerre woman,

born at Utopia in 1960. Anna‘s home is Atneltyeye,

Boundary Bore, on the Utopia Homelands, approximate-

ly 220 km from Alice Springs.

She lives there with her family. She is a grandmother with

five grandchildren. Anna, whose mother was the late ar-

tist Glory Ngale, has painted since her early childhood.

She is related to Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Kudditji

Kngwarreye through her grandfather, who was a brother

of Emily and Kuddltji‘s father.

Her subjects include Bush Yam and Yam Seed Dreamings,

which are associated Dreamings from her grandfather’s

and father’s country at Atneltyeye, or Boundary Bore. As

a traditional Aboriginal women involved in sacred cere-

monies, Anna also paints Awelye-ceremonlal body paint

designs - related to women‘s ceremony.

Amongst these is the story of women painting up for ce-

remony inside a cave, singing of how to attract a man,

and of the bush foods preferred by interested suitors. The

women also learn the laws that stipulate that they must

only encourage the interests of men of a certain clan

relationship to themselves.

Anna‘s more recent work has focused on images of her

ancestral country, the finely delineated structures show-

ing the terrain of the sandhill and bush country, often

with markings that reveal waterholes and ceremonial

sites.

She is renowned for her line painting technique and for

the care and pride she takes in her work, producing intri-

cate and sensitive paintings that relate to the traditional

culture of her Anmatyerre heritage.

In this painting Anna Petyarre illustrates multi-layered elements

associated with her country Atneltyeye, or Boundary Bore, on

the Utopia Homelands. She says ‘There are sandhills and hills

and rivers - big ones and little ones.“

In the tradition of ancient sand drawings, Anna has painted

her country from an areal perspective. The finely dotted lines

trace the shapes of the sandhills and watercourses that run

through her homelands.

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09

KATHLEEN PETYARRE

STORY

ARNKERRTHE - MOUNTAIN DEvIL LIzARD

Acrylic on Linen120 x 170 cm

2009

Kathleen Petyarre was born at Atnangkere, an important

water soakage for Aboriginal people on the western

boundary of Utopia Station, 150 miles north-east of Ali-

ce Springs in Australia‘s Northern Territory. She belongs

to the Alyawarre/Eastern Anmatyerre clan and speaks

Eastern Anmatyerre, with English as her second langua-

ge. Kathleen, with her daughter Margaret and her sisters,

settled at Mosquito Bore at Utopia Station, near her bir-

thplace. She started working in batik in 1977 when an

adult education instructor, Jenny Green, arrived in Uto-

pia and organised batik workshops.

In 1996 she was the winner of the 13th Telstra National

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Contro-

versy arose in 1997 when Petyarre‘s estranged partner

of ten years, Ray Beamish, claimed that he had had a

hand in the execution of the winning painting. This con-

troversy, which shook the Aboriginal art market at the

time, resulted in much stricter emphasis being put on

the documentation of authorship in Aboriginal pain-

tings. Her name was eventually cleared, and she retai-

ned her award.

Her considerable reputation as one of the most original

indigenous artists has since been confirmed nationally

and internationally by her regular inclusion in exhibitions

at the most reputed museums and galleries. The last few

years, from about 2003-2004 onwards, have seen a bol-

der style emerge, with clusters of larger dots and stron-

ger lines alongside the very fine textures for which the

artist is known. While this style has been decried in some

quarters as being less refined, it has also been hailed

as being a logical artistic development towards a more

powerful and dramatic mode of expression, „perhaps

more abstract, certainly more modern in its technicality

and presentation“.

This painting shows Kathleen‘s depiction of ”Arnkerrthe

(Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming)”. It represents her country,

the Anmatyerre region in Central Australia. The lizard is a thor-

ny animal that can change its colour to blend with its surroun-

dings. It can also stay very still to avoid predators and to coll-

ect condensation on its thorns which runs down the curves

into its mouth.

The cross shape in the middle of the painting shows the tra-

vels of the emu, each path leads to a place - Tennant Creek to

the North (bottom right hand corner). Ti Tree to the West (top

right hand corner), Alice Springs to the South (top left hand

corner). In the bottom left hand corner is a waterhole, which

is a secret place for the Anmatyerre people. It is specific to

men’s business, particularly in Kathleen‘s case for her father

and her grandfather. Kathleen made it clear that women are

strictly not allowed to drink from this waterhole.

Kathleen said that the emu was travelling along, past the wa-

terhole and saw a kangaroo and asked it for water. The kan-

garoo did not have any water and told the emu to return back

the way it came.

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11

JANELLE STOCKMAN NAPALTJARRI

STORY

MY COUNTRY


2009

Janelle is the grand daughter of Billy Stockman, one of

the original members of the early Papunya Tula artists.

She lived at Arnkawenyerr, located in the Utopia region.

Janelle began painting in 2001 and her works have al-

ways been considered very contemporary in style. Her

works do not tell a story of her ancient dreamtime, but

simply an expression of herself as she wanted to do a

new style, and something different to everyone else.

She gained her inspiration through the landscape, a sto-

ry from her past and her dream to be a famed artist like

her grandfather. Her work has been admired by many

and featured in exhibitions nationally and internatio-

nally, as well as being represented in collections throug-

hout Australia.

Janelle passed away in November 2009.

In this painting Janelle has used contemporary techniques

to depict the landscape and the countryside at her home-

lands at Papunya, approximately 500km west of Alice Springs

in Central Australia.

A dynamic artist Janelle combines traditional dreaming sto-

ries with strong vibrant colours to portray the changing desert

landscape.

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13

RONNIE TJAMPITJINPA

STORY

FIRE DREAMING


Ronnie Tjampitjinpa was born some time around 1943 in the

region near Muyinnga, about 100 km west of the Kintore Ran-

ges in Western Australia (and approximately 500 km west of

Alice Springs). His family travelled extensively across Pintupi

territory, moving through this region and also around Wilkin-

karra (Lake Mackay) which straddles the Western Australia -

Northern Territory border. He was initiated into Aboriginal Law

at Yumari, near his birthplace.

Ronnie originally came in from the bush at Yuendumu and

later joined relatives living in Papunya, where he worked as

a labourer, helping with the fencing of the airfield. He started

painting around 1971 at the time that the desert art move-

ment began in Papunya and over several years he moved bet-

ween Papunya, Yuendumu and Mt Doreen Station. Ronnie‘s

work follows the Pintupi style of strong circles joined together

by connecting lines relating to the people, country and the

Dreamtime. The primary images in Ronnie‘s work are based

on the Tingari Cycle which is a secret song cycle sacred to

initiated men. The Tingari are Dreamtime Beings who travelled

across the landscape performing ceremonies to create and

shape the country associated with Dreaming sites. The Tingari

ancestors gathered at these sites for Maliera (initiation) ce-

remonies. The sites take the form of, and are located at, sig-

nificant rock-holes, sand hills, sacred mountains and water

soakages in the western desert. Tingari may be poetically in-

terpreted as song-line paintings relating to the songs (of the

people) and creation stories (of places) in Pintupi mythology.

Ronnie can be considered amongst the first wave of artists

effectively linking such ancient stories with modern mediums.

During his time at Papunya Ronnie talked of returning to his

traditional country. This became possible when Kintore was

established in 1981 and Ronnie moved there with his family

shortly afterwards. He has been a committed artist since his

earliest involvement with the central desert art movement and

has since emerged as one of the region‘s major painters. To-

day, Ronnie remains an important influence on a new gene-

ration of painters.

This painting depicts the Pintupi Dreamtime ancestors. It is a

traditional custom for the Pintupi Aboriginal men to light bush

fires, during ceremonial men‘s business. The gap through the

painting depicts a large baron sand hill.

The custodians of this dreaming are the Tjangala and

Tjampitjinpa‘s, the Tjapaltjarri are the guardian of this particu-

lar dreaming and they are responsible for body painting and

overall making sure this ceremony is carried out correctly. Ron-

nie is considered to be a leading Australian indigenous artist.

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15

MINNIE PWERLE

STORY

AWELYE


2004

Minnie Pwerle was born in the Utopia region in approximate-

ly 1910. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her language is An-

matyerre and Alyawarr. Minnie has five sisters, and seven child-

ren including Eileen, Betty, June, Dora, Raymond, and Barbara

Weir who is a well-known Aboriginal artist, also represented by

Flinders Lane Gallery.

Minnie began painting in earnest recently at DACOU‘s work-

shop where she completed a series of linear paintings in Sep-

tember/October 1999. Sonia Heitlinger, Director of Flinders

Lane Gallery organised for Minnie‘s first solo exhibition in 2000

based on the strength of these paintings. These works are bold

and free-flowing and immediately captured the attention of

art lovers. Her first exhibition sold out. Minnies‘ main Dreamings

are „Awelye-Atnwengerrp“, “Bush Melon“, and “Bush Melon

Seed“.

These convey her love and respect for the land and the food

it provides to the people. “Awelye-Atnwengerrp‘ is depicted by

a series of lines painted in different widths and colours. This

pattem represents the lines painted on the top half of the

women‘s bodies during ceremonies in their country of Atn-

wengerrp.

Minnie’s Dreamings consist of elements of ‘Bush Melon’ and

‚Awelyei Awelye - Atnwengerrp’ is epicted by a series of lines

painted in varying widths and colours. These patterns repre-

sent the lines painted on the top half of vvomen’s bodies du-

ring ceremonies in Minnie’s country of Atnwengerrp.

Body painting carries a deep spiritual significance for Aborigi-

nal people. They recognise the creative nature of this activity,

which uses the human body itself as a living canvas for artistic

expression - The use of particular designs and motifs donates

social position and the relationship of the individuals to their

family group and to particular ancestors, totemic animals and

tracts of land. In many situations, individuals are completely

transformed, so they ‚become‘ the spirit ancestor they are por-

traying in the dance.

Body painting ranges from simply smearing clay across the

face to hill body patteming, The body paint is derived from

blood, natural ochres, spinifex ash and emu fat. Elaborate

ground constructions (sand paintings) are also made for the

ceremonies. Patterns must conform to the ceremony being

performed, and the women are not at liberty to adorn them-

selves with designs of free will.

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17

AWELYE WOMENS BUSH MELON


200418

19

WOMENS BODY PAINTING


200520

21

BETSY NAPANGARDI LEWIS

STORY

MINA MINA JUKURRPA


2005

Betsy Napangardi Lewis’ strong character and confronting na-

ture can sometimes be overwhelming. However behind that

tough exterior is a caring, happy and smiley person. Betsy was

bom in the bush at Kunajanyi, west of Yuendumu but when

she was quite young she moved with her family to Mt. Dore-

en Station. She was brought up by Paddy Japanangka Lewis.

Betsy attended school in Yuendumu where she now lives per-

manently. She has been painting with Warlukurlangu Artists

since 1999. She can be found painting at the art centre every

day where she carefully works on her design, always willing to

experiment with new techniques and styles.

Betsy‘s main Dreaming is Mina Mina, country located far west

of Yuendumu on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Desert.

She shares this country and dreaming with Judy Napangar-

di Watson. Mina Mina is a very important women’s dreaming

site and has a long story in which a large group of ancest

women of all ages travel through the country dancing and

performing ceremonies and creating the country as they go.

Betsy has developed her own very characteristic style while

painting this dreaming. She has a unique control and use of

colour and design with thick and narrow super-imposed lines

of different colours.

She has been able to create and express movement through

her designs and use of bright colours. More than just a depic-

tion of the story, the artist has used the Jukurrpa as a medium

to experiment and evolve technically.

Betsy Napangardi Lewis has been able to create the illusion

of movement with the use of clean lines of different colours. In

many of her paintings she has concentrated on a very small

part of the dreaming story as her main focus is the develop-

ment of her very own distinctive painting style.

This story is part of the Karntakurlangu (Women‘s Dreaming)

which belongs to the Napanangka and Napangardi sub-

sections. During the Dreamtime a group of Napanangka and

Napangardi women travelled through Janyinki on their way

east to Mina Mina, the site associated with this Dreaming. They

carried Karlangu (digging sticks) and collected bush tucker

such as Jintipamta and Purlumtari, which they carried in their

Parraja (food carriers).

Both Jintiparnta and Purlurntari, are varieties of edible fungus,

also known as native truffle, that are found after rains. The gro-

wing fungus forces the earth above it to crack, exposing it.

Women collect the Jintiparnta, squeeze out the juice, and

then cook it before eating. The women also collected Ngaly-

ipi to make shoulder straps to carry coolamon with bush tu-

cker. The central motive in this painting are the digging sticks

(represented by the straight lines) that these women carried

and the curved lines represent the motion of the sticks as the

women dig for Jintiparnta, the edible mushrooms. This grass is

important to Barbara. The small brush strokes in warm colours

overlap and weave to create a swaying effect like the move-

ment of native grass.

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23

BILL WHISKEY TJAPALTJARRI

STORY

ROCK HOLES AND COUNTRY NEAR THE OLGA´S


2006

Bill Whiskey Tjapaltjarri is a Pitjantjatjara man born in the

1920‘s at Pirupa Akla, country located near the Olgas and to

the west of Ayers Rock. By the time he was a young man, most

of Whiskey’s family had passed away.

Many of his people had begun moving towards Haasts Bluff

mission, about 250 km to the north east. Whiskey joined a

group of people who were about to make that joumey. No

one had yet seen white people, and when they arrived at the

mission, the desert people were completely naked.

Whiskey, along with some of the others, decided not to stay,

as they were frightened when they saw white people for the

first time. Their fear came from the belief that the white people

were Mamu, or bad spirit people, and so the group continued

to travel. They eventually arrived at an area near Areyonga,

where a white missionary Pastor called Patupirri had estab-

lished a camp. It was here that Whiskey and the others first

tasted white man food. Whiskey tells how they would throw this

strange food behind theirs backs, as they did not like its taste.

Whiskey spent a little time with Patupirri before moving back to

Haasts Bluff mission, where he had been told there were plenty

of women. This time Whiskey stayed, and was given his first set

of clothes. And it was here that he met his wife Colleen Namp-

ltjinpa, and never retumed to his home country.

Whiskey practiced as a witch doctor or traditional healer, and

people would come from afar to be treated by him. While li-

ving at the Haasts Bluff mission, Whiskey took a job as cook

for the contract fencers and mustering crew. He came to be

called Whiskers, owing to his long white beard, and the name

eventually evolved into Whiskey. Whiskey began painting in

2004. The main images in his works are the Rockholes near

Pirupa, Ayers Rock, and the story of his own joumeys to Areyon-

ga and Haasts Bluff.

Whiskey is a very traditional man with an extremely jovial per-

sonality. The bright colours in his work are said to reflect the

character of the man - bold, colourful, and strong in spirit.

Bill has painted the country and rockholes around Ayres Rock.

This painting has been created from an aerial perspective, in

the tradition of ancient sand drawings.

The term ‘country’ as used by indigenous Australians refers to

the spirits that reside in location as well as the landscape its-

elf. Bill Whiskey, was originally from Pirupa Akla (Olgas) area.

By the time he was a young man most of Whiskey’s family had

passed away and the people in the area were moving in the

direction of Haast Bluff Mission and he followed along with

them. Whiskey has never been back to his home lands and in

his paintings recall the country of his birth.

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25

STORY

ROCK HOLES NEAR THE OLGA´S


2008

Bill Whiskey was a highly individual artist whose paintings are

characterised by compositional complexity, subtlety of tone

and an innate understanding of colour and composition. He

used the dotting technique to carefully depict specific sites

located in his ancestral Country and the environmental and

geographical features associated with those places. For in-

stance, he often incorporated in his paintings the rockholes

near the Olgas and the ‚Cockatoo Dreaming‘ story.

The latter tells ofa cockatoo that was preparing some kan-

garoo meat for storage until she had laid her eggs. A curi-

ous black crow was jealously watching the proceedings and

decided to steal a portion of the meat. Both birds fought for

some time, creating large holes in the landscape. Eventually

the crow hit the cockatoo with a rock, injuring her badly.

An eagle which witnessed the terrible fight decided to help

the cockatoo, so she told the crow she wanted to make love

to him. While the crow waited in anticipation, the eagle struck

him with hot spinifex wax, scalding his genitals. Shamed and

in pain, the crow slowly flew away.

Tjapaltjarri explained that this was how his Dreaming site

came to exist. The cockatoo is portrayed as a white rock while

the white stones around the site are the cockatoo‘s white fea-

thers, which, in his paintings, are described by white dots.

The eagle is represented by a hill that overlooks and protects

the cockatoo. The roundels or concentric circles in the pain-

tings are both the holes made in the landscape during the

Dreamtime tussle, and also specific fresh-water rockholes

used for generations by Tjapaltjarri‘s family.

Of other marks and patterns in his paintings, he said, ‘They are

the tracks around the rockholes that we follow when we travel

in and out. The next time we come back we know which way

to go. The long slashes of colour that appear in the paintings

depict the empty creeks and gullies along which water flows

during heavy rains‘.

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27

DOLLY PETYARRE MILLS

STORY

YAM SEED AND EMU TUCKER


2005

Dolly Petyarre Mills was born in 1948 at Boundary Bore Outsta-

tion on Utopia Community in the Northern Territory and her

language group is Alyawarr. Dolly lives with her sister, Gloria

(Glory) Petyarre Mills, at Boundary Bore and are full sisters to

Greeny Petyarre Purvis. She is widely recognised as one of

Australia’s leading Aboriginal artists and has work in major

Australian and international collections.

The delicate patterning and subtle colours of Dolly’s work

depicts her country of Alhalker situated in the Utopia region

north east of Alice Springs. She participated in the „Utopia - A

Picture Story“ which included 88 silk batiks from Robert Holmes

a Court collection. This confirmed the artistic credibility of the

Utopian artists.

Dolly depicts Yam Dreamings and Emu Tucker in her paintings.

The yam is one of the most stable types of bush tucker gathe-

red in the Utopia region. Intricate dot work represents the yam

seeds and the flowers. Dolly explains that Emus love to eat the

delicate golden flower that blooms on this shrub during the

hot summer months.

Dolly’s paintings are characteristically bold and vibrant. She

creates a strong linear design by overlaying thicker dots over

the fine dot work.

The seed of the atnwelarr - pencil yam and Ilenyenp - one

of the varieties of cassia found in the Utopia Region, are the

subject of Dolly’s painting. The stories surrounding both of the-

se plants belong to Alhalkere country in the Utopia Region,

northeast of Alice Springs.

The straight line through the centre of the painting and the

diagonal direction of dots signifies travelling, dancing and sto-

ry lines. Intricate dot work represnts the yam seeds and the

flowers of the cassia. Dolly explains that emus love to eat the

delicate golden yellow flower blooms on this shrub during the

hot months.

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EvELYN PULTARA

STORY

BUSH YAM


2005

Evelyn Pultara lives at Wilora Community in the Utopia Home-

lands with her husband Clem and their family. Her parents

(now deceased) were Rosie Ngale and Jack Kngwarreye.

Jack was brother to the late Emily Kngwarreye making Evelyn

her blood niece.

Jack had two wives and five children the only other child by

Rosie is Greeny Purvis the well respected Anmatyerre elder and

famous artist. Greeny and Evelyn both share the plant totem

of their late Aunt the bush yam which is a native subterrane-

an source of food and water. Evelyn represents her dreaming

totem in many different styles, from pictorial representations

of the plants edible root system to the explosive nature of a

germinating yam seed.

It is her unyielding ability to find harmony within a varied palet-

te that sets her apart as an artist. She is heavily represented in

Galleries in France and Italy and had her first solo exhibition at

Walkabout Gallery in Leichardt, Sydney in June 2003 she has

also been part of several group exhibitions, including, most re-

cently an exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at Gallery

New Quay Docklands, Melbourne.

Her Dreamings, related through haptic adventures in paint, re-

late the tales of the mythic totemic ancestors who made the

land, its people, and its food. Through their telling and retelling

and the depiction of their sites in art, these Dreamings provide

a song-map that locates the water holes, ochre pits, food sour-

ces, and sacred sites of the artist’s country.

It has been said that her paintings impart the rhythm of the

yam corroborree enacted and retold for time in memoriam

through song and dance.

30

31

BUSH YAM


200532

33

FREDDIE TIMMS

STORY

SALLYBUTTE CREEK - SPRINGvALE

Ochre on Canvas90 x 124 cm

1998

Freddie was given the bush name, Gnarrmaliny, after the

place he was born - Police Hole, on the vast East Kimberley

Cattle Station, Bedford Downs in 1944. Growing up on the busy

property, he learned all the necessary riding and stock hand-

ling skills at an early age. He contract mustered on most of

them surrounding pastoral leases, including Bedford, Lissadell,

Mabel Downs, Old Argyle, Texas Downs and Bow River Station.

After the stockmen‘s dispute in the seventies, which resulted in

the removal of most of the people from their homelands, he

was placed first in the Guda-Guda Community at Wyndham,

after which, he and his family were relocated to Warmun/Tur-

key Creek. Bow River Station was eventually granted by the

Government to the Timms Family, with Freddie’s uncle the late

Timmy as Chairperson.

Today, he and wife Beryline, live at the tiny community of Frog Hol-

low where he enjoys the peace and quiet as he paints his stories.

He started painting about twelve years ago, using the know-

ledge and techniques that he had acquired by working with,

and talking with the best of the Warmun Artists such as Jack

Britten, Hector Jandanay, Henry Wambini, the late Rover Tho-

mas and his father-in-law, Paddy Jampinji, who was one of the

finest of the earlier Warmun/Turkey Creek artists.

Freddie travels frequently to attend numerous Group and

Solo Exhibitions within Australia and his paintings have been

collected/acquired by the most notable Galleries, Collectors

both in Australia and overseas.

Sallybutte Creek runs through Springvale Station, joins up with

a tributary of the Ord River and then turns on heading towards

Bow River Station. It should be called a river - too big to be a

creek. Always water in it and everyone knows Sallybutte.

Still used today to bring the cattle into the yards there. Now

most of the mustering is by chopper - it‘s quicker but they miss

a few of the big scrub bulls in the higher country.

34

35

GLORIA TAMERRE PETYARRE

STORY

BUSH MEDICINE


2009

Gloria Tamerre Petyarre was born near Utopia and is a spokes-

woman for the Anmatyerre people. She is married to the artist

Ronnie Price Mpetyane and has four sisters - Ada Bird Petyarre,

violet Petyarre, Myrtle Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre - who are all

artists.

Gloria Tamerre Petyarre first became known as an artists for

her contributions to the Utopia Batik Exhibition which toured

Australia and overseas from 1977 to 1987. She began using

acrylic paint on canvas in 1988, because it gave her greater

freedom of expression and simultaneously better control over

the results.

Her first canvases were created as part of a Central Australian

Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) art project. In 1990

she travelled with the exhibiton „Utopia - A Picture Story“ to

Dublin, London and also to India.

Gloria is a very well known and respected artist. In 1999 she

became the first contemporary Aboriginal artist to win the

important „Wynne Prize for Landscape“ of the Art Gallery of

New South Wales in Sydney. Her first solo show was in 1991

and since then she has had many exhibitions, including in

New York.

Bush Medicine Dreaming makes reference to the leaves of a

particular type of native shrub which grows abundantly in the

desert regions of Utopia, Gloria Petyarre’s homeland, north-

east of Alice Springs. The leaves are invaluable to the people

of Utopia as they are used to aid in the healing process. Du-

ring the life of the plant, the leaves change colour and exhibit

different medicinal properties. In this work Gloria captures the

movement of the leaves as they fall to the ground.

This sense of motion is characteristic of her paintings. She

also employs bold brush strokes loaded with colour to repre-

sent the leaves at different times of the year. The green leaves

are gathered by the women and ground with a stone. When

mixed with water this forms a milky solution which can be used

to cure coughs, colds and flu-like symptoms.

The leaves are also collected and boiled to extract their resin,

which is then mixed with kangaroo fat. This creates a paste

that can be stored for six months in bush conditions. This me-

dicine is used to heal cuts, wounds, bites, rashes and as an

insect repellent.

The leaves can also be made into a mixture to apply to

aching joints or to place on the temples to cure headaches.

The knowledge of Bush Medicine has been passed down

from generation to generation over thousands of years and is

still being used today by the people of Utopia. In painting Bush

Medicine Dreaming, the artist is paying homage to the spirit of

the medicinal plant to encourage its regeneration so that her

people can continue to benefit from its healing powers.

36

37

BUSH MEDICINE

Synthetic Polymer on Linen152x 122 cm

200538

39

STORY

MOUNTAIN DEvIL DREAMING

Synthetic Polymer on Linen121 x 205 cm

2006

Mountain Devil Dreaming celebrates the Thorny Devil Lizard

(arnkerrth) that is found throughout central Australia. lt is a

small, fearsome looking creature but it has a harmless, placid

nature and relies on the striking appearance of its ‘thorny‘ skin

to scare away predators. Its other defence is to change colour

to blend easily into the environment.

In Mountain Devil Dreaming, the artist paints the changing

patterns of the Iizard‘s skin. Aboriginal people believe that

during the Dreamtime this small lizard collected and carried

ochres in a pouch located at the back of its neck.

As it walked the land it deposited these ochres in various

places throughout the country. Aboriginal people consider

the ochre sacred and they use it to paint their bodies for ce-

remonies.

40

41

JACK DALE

STORY

SIx WANDJINAS - YE LALA

Ochre on Canvas65 x 55 cm

2006

Jack Dale Mengenen, born around 1922, is one of the most

senior law men of the Kimberley Narrungunni people. Dale

paints from his memory of ‚law and the old people‘ so that

these Dreamtime stories won‘t be lost. As senior law man, Jack

Dale has the moral authority to paint the Wandjinas and their

stories.

Dale‘s extraordinary paintings of Wandjinas, the most impor-

tant spirit ancestors of the Kimberleys, and Jalalas or marking

stones, represent some of Australia‘s most important aborigi-

nal art by a contemporary indigenous artist.

„A lot of people died unhappy when we were taken from our

land. We are in the desert now, strange country we don‘t know.

We can‘t give evidence now. How can people understand

what we are telling them, all our symbols have gone, we are

too far away...Lots of people learned white man‘s rules, but

nobody recognised our law...It was bad when we saw loads

of stone smashed up in our land. Many of these were special

stones like in my paintings here. These stones we call Djalala,

which separate our country from somebody else‘s country...

We were taught to care for our country, our mother, it‘s our bir-

thright, it‘s our father‘s land too. We had to abide white man‘s

law, that‘s when misery came on us...Many people too old to

walkabout country. But these Djalala very important for us. It‘s

our evidence that Wandjina created.“

‘These Wandjinas come from Iondra in the Komaduwah clan

estate. They are my proof of ownership of this land just like

the words written on a Title to Land issued by the government

agency that manages land tenure.

My title to land comes from the Narrungunni (Dreaming) and

Whitefellas get theirs from the government. In my way of thin-

king the Blackfellas law is older and more true than the White-

fellas‘ law.’ Jack Dale. ‘Iondra - My Grandad country.’

42

43

JUDY NAPANGARDI WATSON

STORY

HAIRSTRING AT MINA MINA

Acrylic on Linen 122 x 61 cm

2006

Judy Watson was born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at

the time when many Warlpiri and other Central and Westem

Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. With her

family, Judy made many trips on foot to her country and lived

for long periods at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ances-

tral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts.

These places are rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji, bush

plums, yakajirri, bush tomatoes, and wardapi, sand goanna.

Judy still frequently goes hunting in the country west of

Yuendumu, near her homelands.

Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napan-

gardi Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu ar-

tists for a number of years, developing her own unique style.

Though a very tiny woman Judy has had ten children, three of

whom she has outlived. She is a woman of incredible energy.

This is transmitted to her work through her dynamic use of co-

lour, and energetic “dragged dotting‘ style.

She is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract ren-

dering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri artists, however her work retains

strong kurruwani, the details which tell of the sacredness of

place and song in her culture.

‘This painting depicts a major women’s ceremonial site known

as Mina Mina, located near Lake Mackay in the Tanami De-

sert, north of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory.

The central dark element represents hairstring that is worn as

belts and tassels by Warlpiri women. This hairstring is closely

associated with the Karnakurlangu Jurkurrpa that is acted out

at the Mina Mina ceremonial site. Hairstring is mainly spun di-

rectly after the death of a family member. Women cut their

hair, ritually cleanse it and spin it into yarn.

44

45

MINA MINA JUKURRPA

Acrylic on Linen 107 x 61 cm

200646

47

KENNY WILLIAMS TJAMPITJINPA

STORY

KW 0611224

122 x 91 cm2006

Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa was born in 1950 - Kiwirrkura. He

now lives and works at Intinti, NT. His meticulous painting tech-

nique of linear geometric designs in delicate earthy tones

are hypnotic and replicate those used for decorating shields,

boomerangs and „tjuringa“.

The eldest of two children of Naata Nungurrayi, Kenny spent

his boyhood travelling with his family in the lands surrounding

Wilkinkarra, until they were taken to Papunya by a welfare pa-

trol in 1963 with most of the Anatjari Tjampitjinpa group. He

moved to Balgo Hills during the 1970s together with a group of

Pintupi people, but eventually returned to Papunya. Then, with

his older brother Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, he transferred to the In-

tinti outstation west of Kintore.

Kenny began his painting career in 1988 while at Papunya,

where he was a member and Chairman of Papunya Tula Ar-

tists for many years. He depicts his tribal country around the

area of Kiwirrkura and his father‘s country, Yirrukurlu, located

south of the Pollock Hills. His dreamings include a Python story

and Ngamanpura, a swamp west of Kintore, where a black-

berry of the same name is found in favourable seasons.

This painting depicts designs associated with the travels of two

kuniya (pythons), a male and a female, from Manapinti to the

rockhole site of Karrilwarra, a site north-west of the Kiwirrkura

Community. The snakes’ tracks are represented by the lines in

the painting. At Karrilwarra the snakes created the rockholes,

soakages and sandhills before travelling south-west to Wiluna.

The concentric circles in this painting represent the rockho-

les at the site. This site was also visited by travelling Tingari

people, who later continued their journey in the same direc-

tion as the snakes. Since events associated with the Tinga-

ri Cycle are of a secret nature no further detail was given.

Generally, the Tingari area group of ancestral beings of the

Dreaming who travelled over vast stretches of the country, per-

forming rituals and creating and shaping particular sites.

The Tingari Men were usually followed by Tingari Women and

were accompanied by novices, and their travels and adven-

tures are enshrined in a number of song cycles. These stories

form part of the teachings of the post initiatory youths today

as well as providing explanations for contemporary customs.

48

49

KUDDITIJI KNGWARREYE

STORY

My Country

ACRYLIC ON LINEN 120 x 180 CM

2008

Kudditji Kngwarreye is a senior man of the Eastern Anmatyer-

re language group from Alhalkere on the Utopia homelands,

about 270 km north east of Alice Springs. Kudditji (pronounced

Kubbitji), was born around 1928. He is the younger brother of

renowned Utopia artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

As a young man Kudditji worked as a stockman on cattle sta-

tions around his traditional country, and took other occassio-

nal jobs including working as a gold miner. He began pain-

ting in 1986, after the Central Desert art movement that began

with the work of senior men at Papunya, began spreading out

to other desert communities.

Kudditji Kngwarreye’s early style consisted of symmetrically

dotted paintings depicting the Emu Dreaming sites and cere-

monies associated with Men‘s Business. During the mid 1990‘s

Kudditji began to experiment, replacing his previous fine dot-

ting style with one that used densely applied paint to create

broad sweeps of colour on the canvas. This imagery created

something similar to the western landscape plane, and the

paintings were romantic images of his country, concentrating

on colour and form of the landscape. Strong images were

being created of the intense skies of the desert rainy season

and the extreme heat of high summer.

These innovative paintings were slow to be accepted, and the

artist returned to the more popular style of his finely dotted

paintings. In 2003 Kudditji returned to explore the looser pain-

ting style, which draws close connections to the later paintings

of his elder sister Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who was one of the

great innovators in contemporary desert art. Kuddtji Kngwar-

reye paints his traditional country, the country for which he is a

custodian, around Boundary Bore on the Utopia homelands.

Significant throughout this country are the Emu Dreaming si-

tes, where major men‘s initiation ceremonies are performed.

The “Emu Dreaming“ is one of Kudditji’s inherited ancestral to-

tems, and is regularly referred to in his paintings. Kuddtji Kng-

warreye has been represented in major international exhibi-

tions and has gained world wide recognition for his traditional

depictions of his ancestral Dreamings.

Kudditji Kngwarreye paints aerial views of his country that re-

flect the changing seasons as well as the areas of spiritual

significance. Kudditji is a very senior Iawman and an Elder for

the Ammatyerre speaking people from Utopia which is situa-

ted some 270 km north east of Alice Springs in Central Aust-

ralia. Using his unrivalled and unique knowledge of his coun-

try, Kudditji began to experiment with the synthetic polymer

paint to eradicate the pointillist style altogether and to use a

heavily loaded paint brush to sweep broadly across the can-

vas in stages, similar to the westem landscape plane, these

paintings were romantic images of his country, accentuating

the colour and form of the landscape including the depth

of the sky in the wet season and in the reds and oranges of

the shimmering summer heat. These ground-breaking pain-

tings expressed Kudditji‘s extensive knowledge and love of his

country in a way never seen before.

50

51

My Country

ACRYLIC ON CANvAS138 x 58 CM

200752

53

My Country

SYNTHETIC POLYMER ON LINEN120 x 90 CM

200554

55

My Country

ACRYLIC ON LINEN60 x 60 CM x 4

201056

57

LIDDY NAPANANGKA WALKER

STORY

WaKiripirri JuKurrpa


2006

Liddy Napanangka Walker is a Warlpiri woman born in the

1930s. Part of the senior women artists who have been descri-

bed as the “Painting Divas from the Desert”. Her work reflects

the vibrant colours and textures used in the Yuendumu region.

Mt Theo is Liddy’s father‘s country. Liddy paints her father

Japangardi‘s Dreaming and her grandfather‘s Dreaming.

She regularly visits her country around Mt Theo and west of

Yuendumu. She has lived in Yuendumu, a Warlpiri community

in the Tanami 300 km Northwest of Alice Springs, since it was

first established and has worked in the community in various

pastoral care roles including as a cook.

She started painting on canvas not long after Warlukurlangu

Artists Aboriginal Association was established and is now one

of its most senior members. Liddy Napanangka Walker has

been exhibiting artwork since 1985 throughout Australia and

around the world.

The main motif of this painting depicts the Wakirlpirri tree.

A sweet drink is made from this plant. Boomerangs, dancing

boards for ceremony and other implements are made from

this wood.

This Dreaming travels from Jarrarda-Jarrayi through to Puturlu

(Mt Theo) west of Yuendumu. The Dreaming belongs to Japan-

angka and Japangardi men, Napanangka and Napangardi

women.

58

59

MARY ANNE NAMPIJINPA MICHAELS

STORY

Mn 06111222


2006

Region: Nyirripi, Northern Territory

Art Centre: Warlukurlangu Artists

Language: Warlpiri

„One of the standouts from this exhibition is Mary Anne Nam-

pijinpa Michaels. The way she thickly lays on the paint and

drags it quickly around the canvas (as opposed to a more

traditional dotting technique) produces fluid and powerful

works. Michaels‘s confidence is derived not so much from the

medium, but from knowing her stories and her place in (and

of) the land.“

Excerpt taken from „ Desert stories just the beginning“, Sydney

Morning Herald, February 28, 2007.

This painting depicts designs associated with the soakage

water site of Pulinyanu, which is slightly north of the Nyirrpi

Community.

In ancestral times, a group of women of the Nampitjinpa and

Nangala kinship subsections, gathered at this site to perform

the dances and sing the songs associated with the area.

The women are represented in the painting by the ‘U’ shapes,

while the roundels in the work represent the soakage waters

at the site.

While in this area the women collected witjirrki (wild iig) from

nearby trees. They also gathered wood for making wana (dig-

ging sticks). Upon completion of the ceremonies at Pulinyanu

the women continued their travels east.

60

61

NINGURA NAPURRULA

STORY

NN 0611145


2006

Ningura Napurrula Gibson was born around 1938 at Watulka

in Western Australia, south of the modern Kiwirrkura communi-

ty, Ningura Napurrula moved to Papunya in the early days of

the settlement with her husband. She is the widow of Yala Yala

Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder who held

significant knowledge of his countries Dreaming stories.

In 1996 she was part of a group of elderly women from Kintore

and Kiwirrkura who began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in

their own right. Characteristic of her work is a strong dyna-

mism and rich linear design-compositions created with heavy

layers of Acrylic paint.

Ningura Napurrula participated in an initial Papunya Tula Ar-

tists exhibition in 1996 and she has been featured in several

group shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin in 1999. She

had her first solo exhibition with William Mora Aboriginal Art

in 2000, and participated in the impressive Kintore Women‘s

Painting for the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery

of New South Wales.

The roundel in the centre of this painting depicts the rockhole

and soakage water site of Ngaminya, slightly south-west of the

Kiwirrkura Conununity in Western Australia In ancestral times a

group of women travelled to this site from further west, gathe-

ring at Ngaminya to perform the dances and sing the songs

associated with the area.

They also spun hair-string with which to make nyimparra (hair-

string skirts), which are worn during these ceremonies. The

comb-like shapes in this painting depict the nyimparra.

While at the site the women also gathered the edible berries

known as kampurarrpa, or desert raisin, from the small shrub

Solanum centrale. These berries can be eaten straight from

the bush, but are sometimes ground into a paste and cooked

in the coals to form a type of damper. The small black circles

in this painting represent the kampurarrpa.

The small red circles represent pura (bush tomato), from the

plant Solanum chippendalei, which the women also collec-

ted. The women later continued their travels north-east to Wir-

rul, Walkalkarra and Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay).

62

63

TJUNKIYA NAPALTJARRI

STORY

TN 0511220


2005

Tjunkiya was born around 1927: the main biographical refe-

rence work for the region gives a date of circa 1927; while the

Art Gallery of New South Wales suggests circa 1930. The am-

biguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous

Australians operate using a different conception of time, often

estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence

of other events.

‚Napaljarri‘ (in Warlpiri) or ‚Napaltjarri‘ (in Western Desert dia-

lects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the sub-

sections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australi-

an Indigenous people.

These names define kinship relationships that influence prefer-

red marriage partners and may be associated with particular

totems.

Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not

surnames in the sense used by Europeans. Thus ‚Tjunkiya ‚ is

the element of the artist‘s name that is specifically hers.

A Pintupi speaker, Tjunkiya was born in the area northwest of

Walungurru (known as Kintore, Northern Territory), near the

Western Australian border, and west of Alice Springs), after

which her family moved to Haasts Bluff. She became second

wife to Toba Tjakamarra, father of one of the prominent found-

ers of the Papunya Tula art movement, Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula.

At Haasts Bluff she had ten children: these included sons Billy

Rowe and Riley Rowe, both of whom painted for Papunya Tula,

and daughter Mitjili (born c. 1948), who married Long Tom Tja-

panangka and went on to paint at Haasts Bluff. From Haasts

Bluff the family moved to Papunya and in 1981 to Kintore.

This painting depicts designs associated with the rockhole site

of Umari, situated in sandhill country east of Mt Webb in Wes-

tem Australia. The lines in the painting represent the puli (rocky

outcrops) and tali (sandhills) surrounding the site.

A number of women gathered at Umari to perform ceremo-

nies. The women, one of the Nangala kinship subsection and

the others of the Napaltjarri kinship subsection, later travelled

towards the east.

One of the stories associated with the area concerns a rela-

tionship between man of the Tjakamarra kinship subsection

and a woman of the Nangala kinship subsection. This is a mo-

ther-in-law relationship, which is taboo in Aboriginal culture.

64

65

WENDY DARBY

STORY

COUNTRY


2009

Wendy darby was born in Port Hedland and grew up in the

bush community at Yadeyerra, a cattle station belonging to

her people just outside Pt Hedland. In the early years Wen-

dy lived a traditional life with her family, with the old people

teaching the young people all about the places, plants and

animals of the area through their stories. Wendy says: “Through

these stories I learnt all about my country - about bush medi-

cine - how to collect this and that plant and how to use them

for various ailments, as pastes or liquids to drink. I’ve been all

around there. Been everywhere. All the old people used to live

there and work at the station.

I do my painting, I think about my country and what the old

people taught me.” Wendy met her husband, Ricky Sandy, a

Yindjibardi man, when he was a teenager working as a stock-

man at Yandeyarra. They subsequently moved to Roebourne

and have three children. Wendy enjoys learning new tech-

niques and quickly adapts them to her own style. This is reflec-

ted in the ease with which she currently moves between sty-

les. She enjoys a variety of techniques such as sponge, brush

work and dots to create her subtle artworks.

Generally Wendy prefers to use earth colours that are traditio-

nal to her culture such as red oxide, yellow ochre and carbon

black, which are prevalent in the Pilbara area of Western Aus-

tralia. On occasion her use of bright colours, including vivid

blues, captures another side of both Wendy’s personality and

of the coastal region of the Pilbara. Wendy quickly became

recognised for her subtle compositions of drifting colours and

in 2007 was the over-all winner in the Cossack Art Award.

Wendy says of this painting: “This is my country. My grandpa-

rents, mother, father and family went hunting all over here loo-

king for bush tucker.

As a child I would go walking through it with my mother and

father looking for bush food. Everywhere, just walking through

this beautiful country we call home, hunting for goanna, kan-

garoo and emu, into the sandy country where bush food was

found, and to the rivers and soaks.

Our grandparents would look for bush medicine. The beau-

ty of the wild flowers blossoming around the soaks and on

the river banks of this desert land. This is my family country.

If we were hunting goanna through the river sand and it went

over rocks and we lost its tracks, we would go up to higher

ground to see where it was going. When I paint my country, I

first paint the background of the painting in different patterns

of browns and reds, the colours of our ground. Then I paint

the colours of the trees, plants and flowers against this back-

ground.

In this panting I have painted a river fiowing through our coun-

try - the Yule River. We catch lots of fish here.” Wendy paints

her country from an aerial perspective showing the patterns

of colour and the variations of landscape as if looking down

over the land.

66

67

WENTJA NAPALTJARRI

STORY

ROCKHOLES WEST OF KINTORE


2009

Wentja Napaltjani was bom in the bush at Malparinga in the

Gibson Desert, and grew up west of Kintore in her father‘s

country. Wentja, who is the daughter of one of the founders of

the Papunya Tula desert painting movement, Shorty Lungkata

Tjungurrayi, has been painting all of her life.

Her first paintings were collaborative, helping out the men in

the family with their work. While they painted the stories or ico-

nographic elements, Wentja did the in-flll dottlng, characteris-

tic of the Pintupi desert artists.

Wentja‘s own career began when she created her first pain-

tings for Watiyawanu Artists at Amunturrngu. Since that time

Wentja has achieved high recognition for her work and in

2002 she was a Finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Art Award. The main subjects for Wentja‘s

paintings are Blue Tongue Lizard and Water Dreaming stories,

handed down from her father. Wentja‘s paintings are less geo-

metric than her father‘s and show a softening of iconography

through the use of intricate, finely-worked dots. This soft dotting

technique is characteristic of many of the Mt Liebig women

artists with whom she paints at Watiyawanu Arts Centre.

Wentja‘s palette reflects the warm colours of the central de-

sert country. Wentja is a highly individual artist little influenced

by other painters working around her and has developed a

distinctive and consistent style characterized by subtle vari-

ations in colour and texture. She loves to paint and works for

many hours each day squatting on the concrete on the front

porch of her house, surrounded by family and pet dingoes.

The dingoes get whacked off the canvas each time they stray

onto it with a long stick kept handy for this purpose. Wentja

lives at Mt Liebig with her husband, Ginger Tjakamarra (son

of well known artist Makinti Napanangka), and with her sons.

She has three sisters who are also well known artisls - Wentja,

Tjunkiya, and Linda Syddick.

In this painting Wentja depicts her father, Shorty Lungkata

Tjungurrayi’s country, west of Kintore, and it relates back to the

time when Shorty, Wentja and the family were living a traditio-

nal nomadic lifestyle. It has been painted as an aerial view, in

the tradition of ancient sand drawings. For indigenous people,

the word ‘country‘ means a place plus the Dreamings asso-

ciated with its origins. This image, therefore, represents more

than just a map to the artist; it is also about the ancestral his-

tory and spirit of that country and the Dreamings, or Tjukurrpa,

for which the artist has responsibilities.

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69

GRACIE WARD NAPALTJARRI

STORY

MUNTATI - MY GRANDMOTHER´S COUNTRY


2010

Gracie Ward is the daughter of George Ward Tjungurrayi and

was born at Papunya in 1973 just after the western desert in-

digenous art movement started. As a baby, Gracie moved to

Docker River and later to Warakurna where she commenced

her schooling.

Gracie started to paint in 2004 and was taught to paint by

George and her mother Nyungawarra Ward Napurrula. She

originally adopted a typical Pintupi dot painting approach

using a restrained palette inspired by the colours of her

father‘s homelands.

In an exciting new development in late 2009, Gracie started to

experiment with a much bolder palette. Her works have pro-

gressed to an exciting new level. Together with Esther Bruno

Nangala, Gracie represents an exciting view of the future of

desert art. Gracie Ward Napaltjarri has a son and two daugh-

ters and spends her time between Warakurna and Alice

Springs.

Muntati is the women’s site that Gracie’s paternal grandmo-

ther was custodian of. Gracie paints the creeks, rocky out-

crops and mountains and sand hills of the site as well as the

movement of the women through the country to Muntati whe-

re they performed ceremonies before travelling onwards.

Typical of much aboriginal art, whilst some of the iconogra-

phy Gracie uses, such as that representing rock holes, is di-

rectly referable to a specific landform, much is abstract or has

multiple meanings.

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71

JEANNIE MILLS PWERL

STORY

ANATY

Acrylic on Canvas90 x 45 cm x 2

2010

Being one of Mbantua Gallery’s nurtured younger artists, it is

exciting to see Jeannie develop into an established and ta-

lented artist. It is an exhilarating chapter for her as she spear-

heads through to the future, as part of the next generation of

Aboriginal artists keeping the culture and tradition alive for

generations to come.

Although initially shy, Jeannie is open and emits a pride in her

work and teaching about elements of the bush. When she

smiles and laughs, it is truly genuine and friendly.

Until recently, Jeannie lived not too far from the Utopia Clinic in

a camp which was named “Jeannie’s camp” by the people,

clearly giving the impression of the respect and leadership

she has amongst them. Jeannie is also a ngangker (traditi-

onal healer or doctor) where she says she was taught of the

ancient bush medicines by her father and makes some that

can be used by all in Utopia for free.

In 2008, Jeannie’s large Anaty painting was accepted in the

2008 NATSIAA, the most prestigious Aboriginal art award in

Australia. Cheerful and good spirited, Jeannie has close family

connections to some of Australia’s top names in art. Her mo-

ther is well known Utopian artist Dolly Mills and her uncle the

late Greeny Purvis, a successful entrant in the 215‘ NATSIAA.

Her great aunt is the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye, dubbed by

art experts as one of the world’s best modem and abstract ar-

tists. It is quite evident that through these influences that Jean-

nie began to paint, bringing her own style and dynamic to the

world of Aboriginal Art. Paintings by Jearmie predominately re-

present the flower and seeds of the Anaty (desert yam or bush

potato), which she enjoys collecting in her homeland.

Jearmie’s distinct style for her story was created in 2004 for

Mbantua Gallery and its captivating energy has thrust her

ame throughout Galleries nationwide.

Jeannie paints the Anaty (Desert Yam or Bush Potato, Ipomoea

costata) story from her father’s country, Irrwelty in Alyawarr

land North East of Alice Springs. This yam grows underground

with its viny shrub growing above ground up to 1 metre high. It

is normally found on spinifex sand plains and produces large

pink flowers after summer rain. The anaty is a tuber, or swol-

len root of the shrub and tastes much like the common sweet

potato. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is still a staple food

for the desert aborigines where it can be harvested at any

time of the year.

Some can be found as big as a person’s head. In this painting,

Jeannie depicts the seed of the anaty (dot work), the anaty

and its flower (brush work).

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73

MIRDIDINGKINGATHI JUWARNDA SALLY GABORI

STORY

MY COUNTRY

Synthetic Polymer on Linen151 x 101 cm

2009

Born and raised on the remote Bentinck Island off the coast of

Queensland circa 1924, she was moved to Mornington Island

by Methodist missionaries in 1948. Almost from the moment

she picked up a paintbrush. Gabori was recognised as one of

the leading lights of recent Indigenous painting. She has now

held five solo shows and been included in group exhibitions in

Singapore, Seoul, Auckland and Darwin.

In 2007 alone, she held two solo shows at Alcaston Gallery in

Melbourne and exhibited in 2008 and 2009 at the Tim Melvil-

le Gallery in Auckland. She has also become something of a

star in the awards system, becoming a finalist in the Western

Australian Indigenous Art Award, the Togart Contemporary Art

Award, the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander

Art Award, the xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Artist Award

and the ABN AMRO Emerging Artist Award. She was also inclu-

ded in the 2009 Korean International Art Fair.

„Her tribal name is Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda. Juwarnda

means dolphin, which is her totemic sign, and Mirdidingkinga-

thi means born at Mirdidingki, in her country on the south side

of Bentinck Island” says linguist Nicholas Rollo David Evans,

who has worked in the region.

She lived a completely traditional life, with practically no con-

tact with non-Kaiadilt people, fishing and gathering shellfish

and vegetable foods, and maintaining the stonefish walls

around the shores of Bentinck Island.

Sally Gabori began painting in 2005 at the Mornington Island

Art. Her immediate love of paint and the full spectrum of co-

lour offered to her, triggered an outpouring of ideas including

depicting her country and her ancestral stories. Whilst her

works are immediately recognised as abstraction, her fascina-

tion with colour seems as significant as the content itself.

A closer look, the country, colour and minds eye combine to

impart to the viewer a real and intimate sense of who Sally

Gabori is and where she is from.

„This is my country on Bentinck Island. It is a mangrove swamp.“

Sally Gabori.

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75

GORDON SYRON

STORY

SELF PORTRAIT

Oil on Canvas102 x 82 cm

2010

Often described as the pioneer of Urban Aboriginal Art, Gor-

don Syron taught himself to paint while serving a ten-year sen-

tence at Bathurst gaol in the 1970s. A defender of Aboriginal

people’s rights to look after their own culture, he uses his art

to expose the exploitation of his people since European co-

lonisation. Syron doesn’t paint dots - he paints the strugg-

le of Aboriginal people. In his major work, “Judgement by his

Peers”, painted in 1978 while in prison, Syron shows the failure

of the criminal justice system to deliver justice to indigenous

Australians.

Gordon has made many significant contributions to his com-

munity, as co-founder of the Eora College with Bobby Merritt,

he was also the first art teacher there. He was the president of

the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in the late 90s. From

1997 to 2007 his gallery, Black Fella‘s Dreaming supported and

encouraged new, young and struggling artists.

Gordon Syron is a Biripi / Worimi man known for his political

and historical oil paintings. He is a self-taught artist who has

carved himself a remarkable career which has influenced his

peers in the artistic, political and cultural arenas.

The extent of syron‘s work was seen in two retrospectives, the

first in 1998 and again in 2004 at the Australian Museum, Syd-

ney. In 2000 he was the artist-in-residence for the International

Australian Humanist Society. In 2004 two of Gordon’s paintings

were chosen to be displayed at the Athen’s Olympics: and

then toured to Beijing to be displayed at the 2008 Olympics.

This is a beautiful forest where Aboriginal spirits live and look

after the land and Aboriginal people. This is old Minimbah

Land where Grandma used to live. It is Crown Land and my

father‘s name, Robert John Syron is on the map.

This land is near to the old Coroborree Grounds. The mining

companies came through this area and took a foot-deep of

top soil off thousands of acres of land. They took all the ele-

ments and goodness out of the soil. Now the wildflowers don‘t

grow anymore. When I was young I could lean off my horse

and in seconds have an armful of breathtakingly beautiful

wildflowers, I wouldn‘t even have to pick them. This land was

sacred to me that is why I chose to paint about it.

From the series „WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS ONCE GREW‘

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77

ROY MCIvOR

STORY

DYNAMIC ORDER #5

Synthetic Polymer on Canvas120 x 90 cm

2009

Roy McIvor is a highly respected elder of the Hopevale com-

munity north of Cooktown and a member of the Guugu

Yimithirr language group. He is Chairperson of the Arts and

Cultural Centre at Hopevale and has been instrumental in its

development. Roy has been developing his own contempora-

ry art career for many years.

In 2006, the Australia Council awarded Roy a grant to produce

a new body of work for his exhibition at the Cairns Regional

Gallery. Prior to this, he had twice won the Cape York Arts prize

and his work has been included in Story Place, Gatherings

and other leading group exhibitions and publications show-

casing the works of Queensland artists. His work is also held in

the collection of state art galleries and museums. McIvor has

made some significant innovations with his work since recei-

ving the Australia Council grant.

While the artist maintains a strong link to the realm of traditi-

onal symbols and stories, at the same time he incorporates

contemporary stories into his repertoire.These narratives are

explored through contemporary painting and dynamic ap-

proaches to colour manipulation and composition.

He was born at Cape Bedford Mission in 1934 and later mo-

ved to Spring Hill. Both were Lutheran sites north of Cooktown

in Far North Queensland. In 1942, his family and the Cape

Bedford Community were forcibly removed from the mission

by the military to Woorabinda, near Rockhampton.

Roy spent the final years of his formal schooling in Woora-

binda. He recalls being inspired by the wife of a teacher, Mrs

Jarrett. She was always complimenting and supportive of his

artistic ability and was a artist herself.

Mrs Jarrett had said to Roy, „I hope you keep doing art,“ and

these words were the springboard into a life time interest and

working in art for Roy. His curiosity and explorative nature have

been expressed in the development of his artwork. Roy has

experimented with many techniques and concepts for over

40 years, leaving him with a truly unique Indigenous style.

These recent paintings consolidate a life‘s repertoire of inspi-

ration. They recall the emotional feeling he experienced when

he first saw the cave art that is all around his Binthi home-

lands. „In Gugu Yimithirr language we call it Wawu - spiritu-

al satisfaction. It is like an affirmation of perfect balance and

wholeness.“

From the series „WHERE THE WILDFLOWERS ONCE GREW‘

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79

SARRITA KING

STORY

OUR LANDAcrylic on linen

162 x 100 cm2011

Sarrita King was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1988, the

younger sister of fellow artist Tarisse King, and daughter of the

highly regarded late artist, William King Jungala (1966 - 2007).

Sarrita inherits her Australian Aboriginality from her father, a

Gurindji man from the Northern Territory. The Gurindji came to

public attention during the 1960s and 1970s when they led a

landmark case at Wave Hill cattle station which became the

first successful land rights claim in Australia. This same strong

sense of self and pride fuels Sarrita King in her drive to paint

her totemic landscape.

Sarrita grew up in Darwin in the Northern Territory, where her

connections to her Aboriginality and her land were nurtured.

Experiences of extreme weather and primal landscape have

provided the artistic themes for her work from the time she

began painting at sixteen. Sand hills, lightning, thunderstorms,

torrential rain, fire and desert are among the environmental

factors that shaped her forefather’s lives and also her own. In

painting these elements, Sarrita provides her personal visual

articulation of the earth’s language.

Stylistically, Sarrita King uses traditional Aboriginal techniques

and iconography incorporating alone with them unorthodox

techniques inherited from her father, as well as techniques de-

veloped through her own practice. Sarrita King‘s art, a fusion

of the past and present and a projection towards the future,

represents the next generation of artists who have been influ-

enced both by their indigenous history and their current Wes-

tern upbringing.

Sarrita King paints in Adelaide in a studio she shares with her

sister. She has been included in over 20 exhibitions, is represen-

ted in galleries in every Australian state, included in many high

profile Australian and international art collections, and her

work has been successful at auction in Paris at Art Curial.

Sarrita’s minimalist composition of interweaving lines, broken

but then tenuously re-connecting, evokes her themes of con-

nectedness to the land and to consequence. The weaving

lines represent the tapestry of landscape in its spiritual and

physical aspects, sometimes dense sometimes sparse.

For Sarrita this series of paintings titled ‘Our Land’ is tied to hap-

py memories of holidays spent with her paternal family tra-

velling through their land with the ultimate destination being,

naturally, a waterhole, represented by the circle, in this case

coloured in red. The red lines leading to it represent the child’s

feeling that they are ‘nearly there’ - although this was not al-

ways necessarily the case.

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81

MERvYN NUMBAGARDIE

STORY

WILIWILGIAcrylic on canvas

115 x 115 cm2011

Mervyn Numbagardie says: “I’m from Rama, Yinajarra and

Pujurrjartu. I was born in Wirritiny and grew up in Walmajar-

ri country and at Bikurangu (Johanna Springs) in Mangala

Country, next to Wirtiwirgi my father’s country.’ Mervyn’s lan-

guage is Juwaliny, which is described as a softer dialect of the

Walmajarri language.

“When I was a young boy, we used to travel around from Rama

to Bikurangu (Johanna Springs) with all the families to meet

other relatives. And other family groups used to come from

their clan countries all the way to Bikurangu to visit. When eve-

rything was finished, we all went back home, walking through

the same way we came. Then we went back to Wirtiwilgi and

that‘s when I lost my Grandfather there.”

Mervyn lived around his father’s country on the edge of the

Great Sandy Desert before coming through Anna Plains Sta-

tion to La Grange Mission, now known as Bidyadanga Com-

munity.

Father Kevin McKelson went to pick Mervyn up from school,

which he attended for only one year, and then he started

work at Kurlupariny Station. Mervyn was given the job of riding

horses and working on the station, fixing the water tanks and

windmills. Later he became expert at breaking in horses and

training young men in the tasks of horse-breaking and riding.

Mervyn Numbagardie is married with two daughters and two

grandsons. He lives at Bidyadanga Community. He began

painting around 2005, re-creating the waterholes and traditio-

nal desert homelands of his childhood.

Mervyn Numbagardie states: “I‘m from Rama, Yinajarra and

Pujurrjartu. I was born in Wirritiny and grew up in Walmajar-

ri country and at Bikurangu (Johanna Springs). That is all in

Mangala Country next to Wirtiwlrgi, my fathefs country.

In this painting, Wiliwilgi, there is a waterhole surrounded by

sand dunes (jilji) near a place called Wirrlwirki. My father died

near this place. The hills are called Kulkumirnti and we used to

hunt around these hills with my family.

People came from south, north and east to this waterhole Wir-

riwirlki. When I was a young boy we used to travel around all

this country, going from waterhole to waterhole, getting food

all around, moving with the family. We would gather with all

the other families and meet with relatives.”

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83

JORNA NEWBERRY

STORY

NGAYUKU NGURAAcrylic on canvas

150 x 90 cm2011

Jorna Newberry is a Pitjantjatjara artist, was born around 1959

at Angus Downs. Jorna divides her time between Warakurna,

lrrunytju and Alice Springs where she has family, living between

the traditional culture of her indigenous background and a

contemporary one. When visiting her lands she regularly goes

bush with the women of her community for sacred ceremony,

which is important to her as she has two daughters and wants

to pass this knowledge on to them.

lf she goes camping for several days she will hunt for kanga-

roo and goanna and collect bush tucker like berries, witchety

grubs and honey ants.

Jornas‘ style is abstract and layered to ensure secrecy of im-

portant cultural matters. Working With Uncle Tommy Watson,

She Developed Her Own Style

Jorna began painting in mid 199O‘s at Warakurna, creating

work for casual collectors. Later she joined the lrrunytju arts

centre and started painting for this group.

Over recent years she has worked closely alongside her le-

gendary uncle, Tommy Watson. She follows his instruction to

favour abstraction as a stylistic mode to ensure secrecy of im-

portant cultural matters, rather than taking the more figurative

approach of the Papunya Tula artists.

She says: ‚Tommy has had a big influence on me. He teaches

me to be respectful in the way I paint.‘

WalpaTjukurpa (Wind Dreaming) relates to her mother’s coun-

try at Utantja, a large stretch of sacred ceremonial land that

has hilly country and a large rock hole where many people

come from time to time to paint up, dance and do ceremony.

lt is country filled with kangaroos, camels, rock wallabies and

birds. „The wind ceremony forms winds... creates air to cool

the lands...“

She explains that wind also helps in hunting as being down

wind from animals makes it easy to hunt successfully. ln pain-

ting this story Jorna uses a very vibrant palette with circles and

lines to describe the movement of the wind and its eddies as

its size gets bigger and bigger.

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85

ALMA NUNGURRAYI GRANITES

STORY

STAR DREAMINGAcrylic on canvas

183 x 61 cm2011

Born into a family of great painters, Alma Nungurrayi Granites

is a Warlpiri woman who lives at and works at Yuendumu and

is known for her majestical renderings of the night sky. Alma is

custodian of the Seven Sisters Dreaming. This cluster of seven

stars which comprise the constellation Taurus, known also The

Pleiades, represents seven sisters of the Napaljarri skin group.

Jukurra, the morning star, is a Jakamarra man who was in love

with the seven sisters, and chased them across the night sky.

In a final attempt to escape from him, the sisters turned them-

selves into fire and ascended to the heavens to become stars.

Her work has been successfully placed in the Holmes a Court

Collection, the Burkhardt-Felder Museum of Switzerland and

the ARTCOL Collection of Seattle.

The Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa (seven sisters Dreaming) de-

picts the story of the seven ancestral Napaljarri sisters who are

found in the night sky today in the cluster of seven stars in the

constellation Taurus, more commonly known as the Pleiades.

The Pleiades are seven women of the Napaljarri skin group

and are often depicted in paintings of this Jukurrpa carrying

the Jampijinpa man ‘wardilyka’ (the bush turkey [Ardeotis

australias]) who is in love with the Napaljarri-warnu and who

represents the Orion‘s Belt cluster of stars. Jukurra-jukurra, the

morning star, is a Jakamarra man who is also in love with the

seven Napaljarri sisters and is often shown chasing them ac-

ross the night sky.

In a final attempt to escape from the Jakamarra the Napaljar-

ri-warnu turned themselves into fire and ascended to the hea-

vens to become stars. The custodians of the Napaljarri-warnu

Jukurrpa are Japaljarri/Jungarrayi men and Napaljarri/Nun-

garrayi women. Some parts of the Napaljarri-warnu Jukurrpa

are closely associated with men’s sacred ceremonies; Yanjirl-

pirri Jukurrpa (Star Dreaming)

This ceremony tells of the journey of Japaljarri and Jungarrayi

men who travelled from Kurlurngalinypa (near Lajamanu) to

Yanjirlypirri (west of Yuendumu) and then on to Lake Mackay

on the West Australian border. Along the way they performed

‘kurdiji’ (initiation ceremonies) for young men. Women also

danced for the ‘kurdiji’. The site depicted in this canvas is Yan-

jirlypiri (star) where there is a low hill and a water soakage.

The importance of this place cannot be overemphasized as

young boys are brought here to be initiated from as far as

Pitjanjatjara country to the south and Lajamanu to the north.

ln contemporary Warlpiri paintings traditional iconography is

used to represent the Jukurrpa, associated sites and other ele-

ments.

Often depicted in paintings for this Jukurrpa is the female star

Yantarlarangi (venus - the Evening Star) who chases the se-

ven Napaljarri sisters for having stolen the night from her.

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87

NYREE NGARI REYNOLDS

STORY

BRINGING THEM HOME

Acrylic and natural ochre on canvas60 x 61 cm

1997

Nyree ( Ngari ) Reynolds was born in 1948 in Wollongong, New

South Wales and belongs to the Gamilaraay language group.

She is a Certificate 4 in Workplace Training and Assessment

trainer as well as an experienced art tutor based in the Cen-

tral West of NSW who has and continues to facilitate art work-

shops for disabled adults; people with mental health issues; in

drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres, with Indigenous and

non-Indigenous children; youth at risk as well as with the Abo-

riginal offenders at Bathurst Correctional Centre.

She also taught Aboriginal art at Bathurst and Orange TAFE

campuses. Nyree’s paintings depicting the Aboriginal child-

ren of the Stolen Generations have been described thus…’in

these ephemeral and quite beautiful works, the figures float

surreal across the vivid Australian outback.

The works evoke a sense of loss and heartbreak. Nyree has

shown through her work that she is a strong story teller and

is able to more than capably get her message across to the

viewer.’ The use of red ochre from Mudgee features strongly in

the figures in Nyree’s work and the majority of her paintings

contain sand from the Illawarra, which connects her with her

birthplace.

This painting tells part of the story of the ‘Bringing Them Home:

Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aborigi-

nal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families ( 1997

)’. It’s 10 years since this report was brought down and there

are still countless stories out there of Aboriginal people who

were affected by their being taken from their families.

This painting shows three young Gamillaroi girls from the Sto-

len Generations walking together towards the Warrumbungle

Mountains which is their Belonging Country.

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89

STORY

NO LONGER FLORA


2007

This painting shows the girls from the Stolen Generations wal-

king together, walking proudly, no longer being classed as flo-

ra or fauna due to the result of the 1967 Referendum which

gave Aboriginal People the same rights as white Australians.

The girls are wearing natural ochre on their foreheads as part

of Ceremony and the lead girl is carrying gum leaves which

is an example of flora that the People once were. One of our

friends says her Grandmother used to be a tree, as was my

Grandmother and all our ancestors after the Invasion and be-

fore the 1967 Referendum. 40 years later there is still a lot of

healing to be done.

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91

STORY

FROM THE STORM OF THEIR PAST TO THE LIGHT OF THEIR FUTURE


2009

The young Stolen Generations children of the Wiradjuri Nation

are led by their big sister out of the suppression of their past

to the hopeful light of their new future due to the Day of the

Apology, 13th February, 2008. They are daring to hope.

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93

ELDERS KNOWING – ELDERS SHOWING; CHILDREN WATCHING – CHILDREN LEARNING

65 x 89 cmAcrylic and natural ochre on canvas

2009

STORY

The young dance teacher is listening .... within the breeze she

can hear the voices of the Elders from years past telling her

stories of the dance, telling her stories of her people. She can

pass these stories of the dance to the little ones who when

they are grown will pass them on to their little ones, thereby

perpetuating the knowledge of the most ancient culture on

earth.

The six elders in the background represent 10,000 years

each...60,000 years of Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal know-

ledge, Aboriginal Dreaming. Then there is the gap where the-

re should be an Elder, but there is not. This gap signifies the

Invasion, the halt to The Knowledge, the end of their world as

they knew it. Nothing would ever be the same again. But now,

quietly and with hope the Knowledge is slowly returning to the

Aboriginal People.

The Elder prepares the gum leaves for sweeping and clearing

the ground before the dance, then the young teacher can

begin her work with the young ones. The grasses in the fore-

ground are the same grasses that can be found where my

Aboriginal ancestor was born near Gilgandra in western NSW.

This painting encompasses the Then and the Now. The Elders

Knowing and the Elders Showing.

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95

WELCOME HOME, LITTLE TRAvELLERS90 x 90 cm

Acrylic and natural ochre on silk canvas2011

STORY

The Spirit of the Elder watches the inner child of the Aboriginal

people who are finally returning home after being taken many

years before from home and Country by Government policy.

She watches over each and every one and loves them dearly.

They want to establish who they are, they want to embrace

their culture that they were not allowed to acknowledge. The

young boy in the foreground needs good role models, he is

floundering ... who is he ... where can he find his own place?

The girls will have less difficulty ... they look on their future with

more confidence.

The young fella on the right mentoring from strong Aboriginal

men ... he´ll do it. Kids ... you can all do it !!! You are strong

Aboriginal women and men.

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97

PROTECTION

48 x 44 cmAcrylic and natural ochre on silk canvas

2011

SUNSET IN COWRA COUNTRY

43 x 48 cmAcrylic and natural ochre on silk canvas

2011

STORY

Protection

The two young sisters look at the storm as it travels around the

afternoon sky. It is in the distance, doen´t look like it will come

their way so they feel safer.

The storm is like their lives, the Aboriginal children of mixed

blood didn´t ever know when it was their turn to be be taken

from family and Country. The storm of removal would touch

randomly but with devastating consequences.

Sunset in Cowra country

The five Wiradjuri children from the Erambie Mission in Cowra

simply ask Why? Why, just because our skin was lighter did you

think it was not right for us to be brought up in the way of our

Ancestors. We have lost so much with that policy.

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99

DAWN NGALA WHEELER

STORY

RAMHYA

Handcrafted, terracotta clay, underglaze32 x 24 cm

2006

Over the last two decades, a group of Aranda women at Her-

mannsburg (120 kms west of Alice Springs) have established

a dynamic and original form of ceramic art. It is an artform

that draws upon craft traditions, and also upon the potters‘ re-

sponses to their landscape. The artists are particularly interes-

ted in portraying their local flora and fauna. Their work is also

nourished by the tradition of the Hermannsburg watercolour

painters – Albert Namatjira and his followers.

The Indigenous women of Hermannsburg, including Dawn

Ngala Wheeler, have created a distinctive style of terra cot-

ta vessels decorated with small figures of animals, birds and

plants as well as painted scenes and motifs from the local

region. The pottery was established in 1990 when Aboriginal

Pastor Ungwanaka, recalling the sale of clay figures to visitors

in the 1950s, encouraged the local people to revisit their inte-

rest in modelling with a view to creating a viable industry.

The pottery thrived, becoming a source of revenue for the

community and an important form of traditional and modern

expression for the local people. Since then, Hermannsburg

pots have made their way into national and international coll-

ections.

The spectacular and characteristic form that the Hermanns-

burg potters have developed combines a handbuilt pot, de-

corated with imagery vigourously painted in underglaze, with

a boldly sculptured lid.

This pot depicts the ramhya (lizard) which lives in the bush

surrounding Hermannsburg.

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101

Raycast VisualsPhotos & layout by Maris stoeppler

102

Documents

Aboriginal Artbook