BETTY KUNTIWA PUMANI, NGUPULYA PUMANI, MARINA PUMANI BROWN

We are thrilled to present new paintings by senior artist Kathleen Paddoon in her first solo exhibition at Alcaston Gallery.

Kathleen Paddoon paints her mother’s country, Nakarra Nakarra using a vibrant colour palette and expressive brushstrokes to depict this significant country and Tjukurrpa (dreaming). Kathleen is a senior custodian of the Nakarra Nakarra Tjukurrpa (Seven Sisters’ Dreaming), including all of the associated ceremonies and songs from the country south of Yakka Yakka.

Nakarra Nakarra is a site of the Seven Sisters’ Dreaming, a story about seven Napaltjarri sisters who travelled this country during the Tjukurrpa (Dreamtime) running from an old Tjakamarra man who wanted to marry the youngest. Today at Nakarra Nakarra a group of hills embody the Seven Sisters, and this sublime body of work is a re-imagining of how Kathleen views this sacred country and Dreaming.

Having started painting in the late 1980s, Kathleen only emerged as a significant artist in the early 2000s, renowned for her rich depictions of Nakarra Nakarra and associated country. Kathleen is also a senior law woman and is one of the original sixteen elders who established Kapululangu Aboriginal Women’s Law and Culture Centre, an organisation committed to the revitalisation of women’s Law and culture.

It has been 15 years since Kathleen Paddoon’s first solo exhibition, and Alcaston Gallery is honoured to present a remarkable new body of work from this important senior artist.

Sea Change: Tree Change is a play on the senior generation often changing lifestyles  by moving to the sea or country, however now addressing the realisation that this privilege may not be available to their grandchildren and subsequent generations due to climate change, pollution and extinguished sea and land life.

“Changing together” as outlined recently by Sir David Attenborough at the UN Climate Change Summit in Poland is the theme for artists to show their world now and to make a statement to work towards what they can do to improve or change habits regarding climate change. Issues like drought and rising temperatures as contributors of climatic change has been ongoing since the industrial revolution worldwide, but for many Indigenous artists, the pollution of precious waters of the sea and desert inland country caused by migration and development has now reached a critical period in time. For instance, artists from Pormpuraaw in far north Queensland are devastated to find plastic in the stunning waters off the coast is now being eaten by turtles thinking it is a jelly fish and the twine from over fishing the waters eaten by larger fish.