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'Travelling Women, Sand Hills, My Country'
Date unknown
Acrylic on canvas
Marlene Nungurrayi was born in the territory west of Alice Springs, and traces her genealogy to an area and clan group rich in Aboriginal culture and art marking. Marlene was born at a point in time when the orthodox tools of western art making - painting, brushes, canvas - were being embraced by Aboriginal art makers for the first time, though typically, she paints in the traditional manner, seated on the ground cross-legged with the canvas in front of her.
While at first this image offers only a series of inter-locking patterns, the title gives a clue to the subject - a landscape of sand hills, rock holes, a dry water course, the shadows of trees, the perspective being that of a woman looking at her local domain from above.
The ability to extrapolate to such a perspective shows remarkable insight and demonstrates an intimate knowledge of the geography. There is great intellectual and manual discipline in the way each and every dot is transferred onto the canvas.
Travelling Women Sand Hills My Country has been kindly loaned to St Paul’s Collegiate School from David Hill’s Hawkline Collection.
David is a Collegian of St Paul’s Collegiate School (Hamilton/Williams 1964 - 1968).
Location: Lander Centre (Hamilton Campus)
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