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12 Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees Annual Report 2011–12
Outcomes
This ghostly troupe of silent musicians sends departed souls
to the afterlife. Deliberately appealing to the rich imagery of
travelling performers, the work is decidedly theatrical: gawky,
glamorous, even wry, these musicians represent a fragile, but
resilient, company.
Emily Floyd
Steiner rainbow
2006
A gift of the artist through the Queensland Art Gallery
Foundation, donated through the Australian Government’s
Cultural Gifts Program,
Steiner rainbow
possesses
considerable physical presence.
As well as being natural phenomena, rainbows are cultural
symbols often associated with utopian ideals, alternative
social and political movements, and the desire to do things
differently. With this in mind, Floyd took a humble object —
a popular wooden children’s toy — and scaled it to adult
height. The original toy was inspired by the educational ideas
of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, which were to
encourage open-ended play: a child can use the coloured
components of the wooden toy as basic building blocks or
to model whole worlds. Like the toy, this sculpture’s coloured
arches can be rearranged; Floyd suggests this fexibility
is similar to the way artists work to imaginatively envision
the world — as a place of potential, as well as continual,
transformation.
Indigenous Australian art
Tjampawa Katie Kawiny and collaborating artists Mona
Mitakiki Shepherd and Tjimpayie Prestley
Seven sisters
2011
Through the generosity of benefactors Cathryn Mittelheuser,
AM
, and Margaret Mittelheuser,
AM
, the Gallery acquired
seven spectacular works by women artists from the Amata
community in South Australia. The works were commissioned
for the exhibition ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’.
The artists span three generations. At 91, Tjampawa Katie
Kawiny is the most senior; she is also a traditional owner of
Tjurma country. For
Seven sisters
, she and her daughters
painted an important creation story about the constellations
of Pleiades (the sisters) and Orion (Nyiru, an evil man who
wants to marry the eldest sister).
Amata community is located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in north-western South Australia.
Tjala Arts is a leader in the vibrant Western Desert painting
movement, which is currently reinvigorating contemporary
Australian art.
Wakartu Cory Surprise
Mimpi
2011
Wakartu Cory Surprise (1929–2011) was one of the great
women artists who began painting at Mangkaja Arts Centre
in Fitzroy Crossing in the early 1980s. Wakartu’s bold, abstract
works are joyful explorations, in vivid colour, of the spirit and
features of her country; they describe places she walked and
knew intimately as a young woman. Her deep knowledge of
the desert environment and its law were essential elements
of her work.
In
Mimpi
, Corey’s final major painting, the sandhills of desert
life are distilled into horizontal, tapered forms, representing
the sheer masses of sand (jilji) that have to be scaled in order
to reach precious sources of fresh water (jila).
Dickie Minyintiri
Kanyalakutjina (Euro tracks)
2011
Dickie Minyintiri, at 96 years of age, is the most senior and
authoritative man painting today in Central Australia. His work
expresses the strength of his personal Tjukurpa (dreaming)
and refects many stories from his years walking his country.
Acquired with funds from Ashby Utting through the
Queensland Art Gallery Foundation,
Kanyalakutjina (Euro
tracks)
was the winner of the 2011 Telstra National Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. It depicts a creation
story from the area of Minyintiri’s ngura (birthplace) —
the painting follows the dreaming track of a Euro (common
wallaroo) — and is exemplary of the artist’s oeuvre: Minyintiri
maps the course of epic journeys onto his canvases by
translating dance steps commemorating these travels.
Warwick Thornton
Stranded
2011
Warwick Thornton is one of Australia’s most acclaimed
filmmakers. His Kaytej (Kaytetye) heritage imbues the
films he writes, directs and produces with an honesty
coming directly from the heart of the Aboriginal experience,
particularly from his own country in Central Australia.
Thornton is best known for his multi-award-winning
premier feature-length film
Samson and Delilah
2009.
His first work for a gallery environment,
Stranded
highlights
Thornton’s cinematographic abilities. Filmed and presented
in 3-D, the work presents us with a classic conundrum
in a wildly spectacular setting. In a self-portrait of sorts,
Thornton appears as a Christ-like figure nailed to a light-box
cross, hovering over a desert landscape at dusk.
Stranded
shares qualities with iconic works by well-known Aboriginal
photography and video artists Tracey Moffatt and Michael
Riley; like these artists, Thornton does not give his work a
prescriptive meaning, preferring to leave interpretations to
his audiences.