Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri
Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri | |
---|---|
Born | c.1935 Kurtal, south-west of Balgo, Western Australia |
Died | 16 January 2003 |
Nationality | Australian |
Known for | Painting |
Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri (also referred to as Susie Bootja Bootja Napangardi,[1] Napangarti,[2] or Napangati)[3] (c. 1935 – 16 January 2003) was an Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born south-west of Balgo, Western Australia, in the 1950s Susie Bootja Bootja married artist Mick Gill Tjakamarra, with whom she had a son, Matthew Gill Tjupurrula (also an artist).
Susie Bootja Bootja's painting career followed the establishment of Warlayirti Artists, an
Life
Susie Bootja Bootja was born circa 1935[notes 1] near Kurtal, or Helena Spring, south-west of Balgo, Western Australia;[2] the country is called Kaningarra in her own language, a name that appears as the title of one of her art works.[5] The ambiguity around the year of birth is in part because Indigenous Australians operate using a different conception of time, often estimating dates through comparisons with the occurrence of other events.[6] While sources vary as to Susie's skin name (some indicating Napangarti, others Napaltjarri), the similar birth dates, locations, and work history indicate that all are referring to the one individual.
'
Susie Bootja Bootja was of the Kukatja language group. She married artist Mick Gill Tjakamarra at Old Balgo in the 1950s, and they had a son, Matthew Gill Tjupurrula (born 1960), who also became an artist.[2] Susie Bootja Bootja died on 16 January 2003.[4]
Art
Background
Contemporary Indigenous art of the western desert began when Indigenous men at
Career
The Balgo community did not establish an art centre for more than ten years after their colleagues at Papunya, with artistic activities commencing when an adult education centre was opened in 1981.[14] However once Warlayirti Artists was set up, the community went on to become one of Australia's most successful Indigenous art centres.[5][15] Painting at the centre is a sociable, communal activity,[14] and Susie Bootja Bootja would regularly collaborate with other painters, including her husband.[3]
Susie Bootja Bootja was represented by Warlayirti artists at Balgo,[16] where she was living and working in the 1990s.[3] She was one of the strongest painters at Balgo.[14] The work of Balgo artists such as Susie Bootja Bootja, and her fellow artists including Sunfly Tjampitjin and Wimmitji Tjapangarti, are characterised by an expressive style, involving "linked dotting and blurred forms and edges".[17]
Works by Susie Bootja Bootja are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales,[5] the National Gallery of Victoria,[4] and the Flinders University Art Museum Collection.[1] She is also represented in major private collections, such as Nangara (also known as the Ebes Collection),[18] the Holmes à Court Collection and the Morven Estate.[1] Works by both Susie Bootja Bootja and her husband were included in a 1991 exhibition 'Yapa: Peintres Aborigenes de Balgo et Lajamanu' in Paris, and in 'Daughters of the Dreaming' at the Art Gallery of Western Australia in 1997.[2] Her paintings feature in Christine Watson's 2003 book, Piercing the Ground: Balgo Women's Image Making and Relationship to Country.[2]
Susie Bootja Bootja helped choose the site for, and participated in, a major ceremony for a 1993 Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary film, Milli Milli. The ceremony, called Wati Kutjarra (Two men) Dreaming, was performed with others including fellow artist Peggy Rockman Napaljarri.[19]
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales[5]
- Flinders University Art MuseumCollection
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia
- Holmes à Court collection[3]
Notes
References
- ^ a b c "Suzie Bootja Bootja (Napangarti)". Australian Art Print Network. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-550649-9.
- ^ ISBN 976-8097-81-7.
- ^ a b c "Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri". National Gallery of Victoria. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri – Kaningarra". Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art > Paintings. Art Gallery of New South Wales. 2003. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ISBN 1-876622-47-4.
- ^ "Kinship and skin names". People and culture. Central Land Council. Archived from the original on 10 November 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
- ISBN 978-0-85575-234-7.
- ISBN 978-0-522-85434-3.
- ^ Dussart, Francoise (2006). "Canvassing identities: reflecting on the acrylic art movement in an Australian Aboriginal settlement". Aboriginal History. 30: 156–168.
- ^ ISBN 0-7148-3752-0.
- ^ Strocchi, Marina (2006). "Minyma Tjukurrpa: Kintore / Haasts Bluff Canvas Project: Dancing women to famous painters". Artlink. 26 (4).
- ISBN 0-642-70453-8.
- ^ ISBN 976-8097-81-7.
- ISBN 978-0-642-71788-7. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Full list of artists". Warlayirti Artists. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
- ISBN 0-19-550649-9.
- ^ "The artists". Nangara: the Australian Aboriginal art exhibition. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
- ^ Glowczewski, Barbara (2004). "Piercing the Ground: Balgo Women's Image Making and Relationship to Country [by Watson, Christine (2003)]: (review article)". Australian Aboriginal Studies (2): 105.