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Marrapinti Rockhole

Photo: iocolor, Seattle

Marrapinti Rockhole

2007

Doreen Reid Nakamarra

Australian Aboriginal, Pintupi people, Papunya, Western Desert, Northern Territory, 1948 - 2009

Rockholes are pools that punctuate the sandhills of the desert, offering respite from the heat and serving as a source of clean, fresh water. Doreen Reid gave credit for the nourishment these pools offer to ancestral women who established them. She painted Marrapinti many times, helping us see the lines of water flowing from a creek into the pool. Carefully guarded and kept clean of debris, the site is a safe haven for women to give birth, gather raisins, and dance and sing the songs of the area.
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
35 13/16 x 35 13/16 in. (91 x 91 cm)
Gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan
2019.20.8
Provenance: [Cross Cultural Art Exchange, Darwin, Australia]; Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan, Seattle, Washington, 2008
Photo: iocolor, Seattle
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan and 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. Cat. no. 27, pp. 106-107, reproduced.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM