Retrospective

Prince of Wales (1938 – 2002 )
Senior Dariba (lawman) and artist Mitbul – Prince Of Wales Prince has been a leader of ceremonies and dance, a song man and ceremonial body painter. The body decorations and marks used in ceremonial rituals are the source from which he drew inspiration for the imagery in his contemporary paintings. Prince of Wales has laid the foundations for the emergence of a contemporary Larrakia Art Movement.

Regina Wilson (1948 –)
Regina Wilson is a master weaver who transfers her in-depth knowledge of colour, design and layering to painting. From the inspiration and instruction of her grandmother. Wilson transcends the traditional weaving skills and her knowledge of bush colours to create unique masterful paintings.

Pincher Talunga (1937 –)
Pincher Talunga is an elder and leader of ceremony. His paintings are inspired from the spears used in design and ceremony, Yuwul.

Mabel Jimarin (1935 –)
Mabel Jimarin paints from her primary source of inspiration – weaving and bush colours – transcending ceremony and traditional artistic practice.

Margaret Kundu (1945 –)
Margaret Kundu’s paintings reflect the intricate patterns, colours and textures of the traditional stitch weaving techniques inherited from her mother’s mother.

Theresa Lemon (1969-)
Theresa Lemon’s bold use of colour and construction of heavily detailed stitch patterns are a direct transfer of material culture onto canvas.

Sheena Wilfred (1967-)
Over the years Sheena Wilfred has developed a unique painterly style of many small brushstrokes in bold colour and design. Her use of reds, oranges, blues, yellows, pinks and purples emphasize the seasonal mood of her landscapes.

Dinah Garadji (1921-)
Garadji’s works are a style combining structure and freedom. Her first paintings have more figurative elements and reference to particular location sites while many of her later works are total abstractions.

Gertie Huddleston (1933 –)
Gertie Huddleston’s knowledge of her wild and unruly ancestral country as well as the structure of her Mission upbringing, influence her vibrant paintings. This juxtaposition of nature and civilisation, freedom and structure, is evident in her highly detailed paintings.

Eva Rogers (1930 – 2002)
Working during the day gardening, Eva loved flowers and they became the main inspiration for her paintings . Eva often included stories of the mission in her paintings alongside traditional stories and bush scenes.

Angelina George (1937 –)
Angelina George’s paintings are explorations of the landscape, reflecting and imagining the space and structure of the country. The distinctive feature of her work is in capturing moody, undulating aerial perspectives of place.

Moima Willie (1935 –)
Together with her husband, Willie painted with deliberation in accordance with the roles her subjects play in the scenarios being narrated, never decoratively – all the subjects have a purpose, a role in the realisation or preparation of ceremony.

Joan Stokes (1961 –)
“Stokes’ work are celebrations of the universal texture of human experience: specific recollected scenes, evocations of a social landscape, life-sketches from the last days of the pastoral frontier, all seen from the Aboriginal perspective and captured by an indigenous eye.” …Nicolas Rothwell, The Weekend Australian

Dinny McDinny (1930 – 2003)
These detailed works take you from the Coastal Country to Stoney Hills and Sandy Rivers. Dance, ceremony, cyclones, storms, station life, spirit men and events including the Aeroplane Dance for WWII are amongst the diverse imagery of his paintings.

Norman Kinsley (1931 – 2011)
Historical Sketches of the Life and Times of the People of the Region. The paintings are filled to overflowing with content and conversation of place, the reminders of the days of the stock camps and stations and the details of everyday life, the friends, family and famous frontiersmen.

Joshua Bonson (1988 –)
Through his paintings, a dialogue speaks confidently of life and experiences growing up in the Northern Territory. Skin is the crocodile totem.

Billy Hogan (1925 – 2002)
Hogan’s paintings can be recognized by the powerful representations of traditional iconography .The result awakens in the viewer a sense of duty and respect, an understanding of the importance of culture, heritage, religion and posterity.

Lorna Fencer (1925 – 2006)
Lorna Fencer applies the paint in liberal free brush strokes on the canvas and layering the colours one upon the next. Upon completion of the work, only the most public aspects of her songlines are revealed to the observer, the most intimate details are concealed.

Rosie Tasman (1930 –)
Through complex, calligraphic symbolism, Tasman portrays the movement and rhythm of ceremonial song and dance, the stories and journeys of her songlines, and the undulating designs painted on the breasts, chest and arms of the dancing women.

Mona Rockman (1924 –)
The prevailing theme of her painting is ancestral songlines, inherited from her mother and grandmothers. Mona is responsible for Ngatijiiri (budgerigar) and Warna (snake) songlines, intricate designs depicting the rhythmic movement of song and dance ceremony.

Peggy Rockman (1940 –)
Skillfully symbolized and detailed artworks, these representations of women’s ceremony are a tribute to the complexity of Rockman’s knowledge and understanding of her cultural heritage.

Jean Birrel (1932 –)
Jean Birrel expresses her traditional songlines, painting the themes with intricate, symbolic narratives. Birrel’s palette reflects the rich, tones of her desert surroundings.

Biddy Long (1932 –)
Biddy Long’s songlines provide inspiration for her paintings. Movement, bold colours and textures are combined to dynamically represent the elements in each story; the effect is modern, brave and new while maintaining cultural and traditional integrity.

Rex Wilfred (1951 –)
Rex Wilfred paints his grandmother’s country, Morning Star. The painting sparkles with light and exuberance, at once evoking optimism, nostalgia and joyfulness.

Kieren McTaggart (1990 –)
Kieren McTaggart paints the design of his inherited crocodile totem.