Alkuwarri Dawson

Alkuwarri Dawson



Born: Yjun Tjun rockhole near Warburton

Date:1930

Language: Ngaanyatjarra

Early life: Semi nomadic around Warburton

Career: Starts around 2002 at Irrunytju Community Arts



Introduction

Alkuwarri Dawson is a senior Ngaanyatjarra artist who was born around 1930 in the bush at Tjun Tjun rock-hole near Warburton, Western Australia. As a child she lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle with her family around the Warburton Ranges, and gained an intimate understanding of the traditional knowledge of her land, and the Tjukurpa (Dreamings) associated with it. Alkuwarri attended school at the Warburton mission, and later married and gave birth to her eldest daughter. After the death of her first husband, Alkuwarri married Nyakul Dawson and moved to Irrunytju where she raised three more children.



Dreamtime Stories

Her paintings represent the Kalaya Wati Tjukurpa (Emu Man Dreaming) and the Tjukurpa Mulapa (true dreaming) that relates to the country of her birth. Alkuwarri often paints a fragment of the Tjukurpa that takes place in the night at kalaya ngura (emu place) beside a large rock-hole called Tjukarta Tjukarta. The minyma were lying beside the rock-hole trying to sleep. They were restless because a wati liru (snake man) was moving about in the shadows nearby with a lot of baby snakes. All of the camp dogs were asleep except for one who was stalking several baby emus. The wati and minyma kalaya (men and women emus) were agitated and worried for their tjitji (children) who were running in all directions then cowered in a wiltja for shelter.



Using a dark background, a vibrant colour palette and a wide range of expressive brushstrokes and punu marks, Alkuwarri evokes the darkness and fears of the night in her paintings. The locations of the rock-hole, the women’s camp, the wiltja and tjukurpa tracks are incorporated into the structure of her work. Erratic emu tracks, writhing lines, sprays of dots and intense colours suggest snakes and mamus (devils or monsters) lurking in deep shadows; sparks from camp fires; shining dogs eyes; and the helter-skelter panic of baby emus.



Collections

Art Gallery of Western Australia

Art Gallery of Queensland

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Victoria.



Exhibitions

2009 Agathon Galleries, Sydney, Melbourne

2008 Agathon Galleries, Sydney, Melbourne

2007 Alkuwarri Dawson Solo Exhibition, Agathon Galleries, NSW,

2006 Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, Country in Mind: Five Contemporary Aboriginal artists.



Bibliography

McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Complete Guide, McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, Fitzroy, Vic., 3065, 2008

Colin and Elizabeth Laverty, Beyond Sacred, Hardie Grant Books, Prahan, Victoria, 2008