Wilkinkarra

2007

Australian Aboriginal, Warlpiri people, Western Desert, Northern Territory, 1940 - 2010

Islands in Wilkinkarra (Lake MacKay) are a favorite place where the artist recalls growing up. Her father and sisters would camp on the islands in the lake and then walk off to hunt in surrounding areas with many eucalyptus trees. In this painting, sharp pinks and oranges are held in check by black outlines that float around swaths of turquoise blue. Some of the smaller elliptical shapes are sleeping holes that the family would scoop out of the ground to create shelter from the cold winter winds.

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas

78 3/4 x 120 1/16 in. (200 x 305 cm)

Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan

2016.25

Provenance: [Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2009

Photo: iocolor, Seattle

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection, May 31 - Sept. 12, 2012 (Nashville, Tenessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, June 23 - Oct. 15, 2017; Madison, Wisconsin, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Jan. 26 - Apr. 22, 2018; Austin, Texas, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, June 3 - Sept. 9, 2018; Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Audain Art Museum, Oct. 5, 2018 - Jan. 28, 2019). Text by Pamela McClusky, Wally Caruana, Lisa Graziose Corrin, and Stephen Gilchrist. No cat. no., pp. 47, 148, reproduced fig.6, pl. 9.

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