Completed in October 1991, Arnhem Land artist Les Mirrikkurriya’s bark painting, shown above, describes the Rainbow Serpents ‘Borlung’ in action. Written on the Maningrida Arts Certificate of authenticity, attached reverse, is a precis of the image’s intriguing narrative. The Serpents, with…
It was a privilege to watch Eubena painting this work over three days in Balgo. The three panel structure was a style suggested and encouraged by the then Art Co-ordinator James Cowan. Several such scale and divisional paintings were created…
Judy Napangardi Watson was born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri and other Central and Western Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. With her family Judy made many trips on foot to her…
Born Circa. 1935 Napangarti first saw kartiya (non-Aboriginal people) when she was about 12 years old, at Ngariyili rockhole near what is now the Balgo airstrip. The kartiya (non Indigenous people) were policemen searching for Aboriginal people. Napangarti was amazed…
Sourced from from the National Gallery of Victoria archive, James Davidson states:Mathaman’s people refer to themselves as the Yulgnor (The People) and there are no tribes as such in Arnhem Land. The social structure consists of two moieties: the Dhuwa…
Peter was born in 1939 at Newry Station and lived there until 1989 when he moved to Ivanhoe Station near Kununurra. He picked cotton while he lived around Kununurra and also worked as a builder’s labourer while the township of…
“This painting is my totem and I am part of Galpu Clan. The painting is about the Wurrkadi. The Wurrkadi come out from the ground because they smell the yams or food (stingray in this story) and eat it. The…
Alma Webou is Yulparitja, a desert woman who moved to the saltwater country when she came out of the desert in the late 60’s. She paints her desert country with a saltwater palette as seen in this beautiful, bold painting…
Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency states on the certificate for this painting that Warkartu Cory Surprise titled this painting ‘Jilji this one, in the Great Sandy Desert, my country’. www.mangkaja.com/content/wakartu-cory-surprise goes on to say: Kumanjayi [deceased] Surprise was a highly regarded,…