Over at Papalankutja Artists is a small profile on artist Narelle Holland.
Narelle has painted country where the emu was hunted. The men would go to the rock hole to spear the emu, using stillness as their weapon. The first layer of paint marks the country and its landmarks, the second layer, a delicate layering of lush cream and white dotting depict the spinifex which camouflages the country. The men have been painted with the raw brush strokes contained in the first layer and the second laying of spinifex and dotting cloaks the men, keeping them hidden from the viewer and the Emu they hunt.
I watched her paint part of this picture:
The story is painted then overlaid with dots.
It is quite different to her previous style.
This picture of Narelle’s (above) I like. It is a ‘whitefella’ map of the Lands. The orange lines are the roads leading to orange circles around white dots. Each of these represents a community. All the other rings don’t have any significance.
I like that I can tell this story to my indigenous guests as they look at it with some puzzlement trying to identify the story.
Click on the pictures to obtain a larger view. The last two are from my small collection.
Have a pleasant Sunday afternoon.
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