Sandhills, 2000
Artist: Dorothy Napangardi
Region: Central & Western Deserts
Medium/Type: Painting
Size:
46 x 46 cm
(Artwork can be rotated)
Catalogue Number: 4353DN
Status: Exhibition WA AUSTRALIA
Central Australia is sand country, a landscape that is constantly moving, a shifting sea of sand dunes, cloaking and revealing, sculptured by winds, ephemeral in nature.
Sandhills is a constant theme in many of Dorothy’s works, whether it is a large work of shifting lines of dots, or a smaller study – ‘esquisse’ – works that stand on their own, and which the viewer is provided with an insight into the working mind of the artist.
In this study of Sandhills, in addition to the black and white, Dorothy has used colours referencing the ochres tones of brown and yellow. A closer view of this painting show that Dorothy has also introduce a grey/blue, that reference water and soakages.
As with all of this artist’s works, this painting revolves around the sacred site of Mina Mina, the land in the remote Tanami Desert of which Dorothy is custodial owner. Made up of two enormous soakage areas and endless sandhills, here Dorothy and her aunts (Napanangkas) perform rituals of dance and song as part of their passing on of Jukurrpa.
Aerial view of sand country and dunes.
Dorothy Napangardi
Regions: Central Desert, Western Desert
One of the leading artists of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement, Napangardi’s work is highly sought after by both collectors and curators worldwide. Her paintings and prints have been widely exhibited and are in all national collections within Australia and in major collections worldwide including most recently the MET, New York. Napangardi had the honour of being the 2nd indigenous artist to be given a solo survey exhibition at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Sydney that traced 11 years of her painting career in 1991.