ReDot Fine Art Gallery in conjunction with Emerge Art Space presents:
Koort Boodja (Heart Land) Lindsay HARRIS Solo Exhibition
Wednesday, April 4th till Saturday, May 19th 2012
For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of the this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.
c o n t e m p o r a r y
f i n e
a b o r i g i n a l
a r t
“When in my country, I ponder how the landscape would now look if Western and Indigenous ideas had been working in unison instead of the over exploitation by farmers and sandalwood cutters. This is maybe why I paint the images as I do. This is why I do not paint a landscape as Turner and Constable...� - Lindsay HARRIS, 2012
Lindsay HARRIS Born Citizenship Country
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: August 14, 1947 : Aboriginal Australian (Noongar) : Lesmurdie WA
I am a Noongar artist and my interest has always been finding ways of representing my lands. I see through my eyes which invoke memories of Kwolyin in the central wheat belt of Western Australia and the surrounding districts where I once lived. As a Noongar I have and I share in a special relationship to the country of my forebears. Overarching this relationship is the respect for my country and my involvement in its care and representation. The focus of my art is the inscribed landscapes of Kwolyin and surrounding areas. When I am there, I can make out the barest foundations of its town-site. Impermanence is the word that best describes what I am seeing. Impermanence is one of the key themes of my artistic orientations. Change is always occurring, nothing stays the same. Kwolyin town is now a ghost town with only a church remaining, travelling through Kwolyin, a person would only see this church and the road going through the town-site and would think that was all there is. But there are memories. These memories inspire my artwork. Rocks, trees and sites are signifiers of my past. Unlike the traveller or stranger in this space, I see the landscape as it was and this is the very same space I come to represent in the present. Granite rocks, lakes, trees and sites are signifiers of my past. The granite rock formations depicted in these paintings elicit joyful memories of a childhood spent playing on these outcrops. The siding train tracks meandering across my work were the lifeblood of the Kwolyin community but nowadays are but a distant memory of the past. Kwolyin is my heart space - my home. I use these visual cues in my art. Such as observing how the kangaroo tracks and markings leads one to an understanding in the land. My heart space forces one to visualise stories and the reading of country and the connections to the old stories in this modern day. Stories and myths are the memories of What happened many years ago where people called out to each other. This act of calling out to another is one when in the company of family there is a ritual of telling the land ‘I am here’. I have returned: The Kwolyin name ‘Kooting’ relates to the practice of calling from atop of Kwolyin Hill and koo-waangking, saying ‘I am home. I have returned.’ This is my Noongar boodja (land); the land of my people. This is where I feel most comfortable and the substance of inspiration for my art. My work gives people insights into my country, and the connections to the old stories in this modern day. The outcome is really about telling the stories of my home. When I painted - Tracks to Kockerbin #1- I was telling the story about how some of my people came to be with a child. When they went there, they would ask the Kockiij, (the little spirit man) who resided in a cave, that they wanted a child. He would reply to them that the next time he saw them the woman will be boodjari (pregnant). My art brings a sense of intimacy and connection to my boodja (my land). Through my paintings I invite people to go on a journey back to my land and see and understand it as I see it and perhaps how my ancestors once saw it.
My main endeavour with my current practice is to help people make sense of the aesthetics of my land through utilising the natural materials such a resins, ochres and pipe clay that are contained in my maarng-art boodja (jam tree country). I paint using resin which gives me a feeling of marking and being connected to the land. The bold brush strokes in my paintings hide an underlying current of past tensions experienced by my people and their lands. I like to compare the markings I make to the tracks and paths that have criss-crossed my land since ancient times. When in my country, I ponder how the landscape would now look if Western and Indigenous ideas had been working in unison instead of the over exploitation by farmers and sandalwood cutters. This is maybe why I paint the images as I do. This is why I do not paint a landscape as Turner and Constable would, or how for example, a camera would photograph an image. I am not after that exactness. Is it possible? I am looking for the landscape that was once there, but now no longer exists. My paintings come from physical and spiritual nourishment created from having an intimacy when in my country.
Lindsay HARRIS Artist Statement 2012
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Lindsay HARRIS
Education 6
2008 2006 2005 1999
Masters (Art), Curtin University of Technology Honours (Art), Curtin University of Technology Bachelor of Arts (Art), Curtin University of Technology Associate Degree in Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Painting, Ceramics, Drawing & Visual Art Theory
Selected Group Exhibitions 2012 2011 2010
2009 2008
2007 2006
Selected for ‘unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial’ to be held at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2012. ‘Connections: Land and People’, City of Joondalup blend(er) gallery City of Rockingham/Kwinana Noongar Art Award (Highly Commended) Cossack Art Award 2010 Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital 2010 Biennial Art Award ‘Noongar Dreamings’, City of Joondalup blend(er) gallery ‘Noongar Country’ Bunbury Regional Art Galleries ‘Unsung Heroes’ Celebrating Indigenous Australia NAIDOC 2010, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore ‘Firetail Friends’ Group exhibition, Firetail gallery Dwellingup WA City of Rockingham/Kwinana Noongar Art Award (Highly Commended) 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin Guy Grey-Smith Memorial Exhibition Perth Royal Show Art-strings Exhibition & Auction, Cullity Gallery Nedlands Cossack Art Award 2008 Feb/Mar group exhibition ‘mix’, emerge ART SPACE, Perth Guildford Grammar School Art Exhibition Nov/Dec group exhibition ’WRAPPED UP’,emerge ART SPACE Perth June group exhibition ‘emerge’06’, emerge ART SPACE Perth June Honours show MATTEReality 2 at Moore’s Building Contemporary Art Gallery Fremantle March/April ‘New Works New Faces’, Perth Galleries Subiaco
Solo Exhibitions 2011 2010 2008 2007 2006
‘Aaalidja Boodja (That land there)’, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (25 Oct – 11 Nov) ‘Boodja Yaaragut (Earth on Top)’, emerge ART SPACE, Mt Lawley (May 11 – May 27, 2011) ‘Kaarlagup (Place of my home, my fire), emerge ART SPACE, Mt Lawley (Mar 17 – 1 April, 2010) ‘Maarng-Art Boodja (Jam Tree Country)’, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne (Mar 2 – 20, 2010) Nov ‘Skin of the land (Boodja Ngoorl)’ emerge ART SPACE Perth June/July ‘ALINED’ joint solo exhibition with Alana McVeigh, ceramicist, emerge ART SPACE Perth June/July ‘Moments in Time’ solo, emerge ART SPACE Perth
Prizes/Awards 2011 2009 2008
Selected for ‘unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial’ to be held at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra in 2012. Highly Commended, City of Rockingham/Kwinana Noongar Art Award Overall winner, Town of Vincent Art Awards, Leederville WA Highly Commended, NAIDOC Week Moorjditch Mar-Daa Art Award, Armadale WA Selected as finalist in the 25th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Reviews The West Australian, Thursday November 13, 2008; Stephen Bevis Guardian Express, Tuesday August 12, 2008 Art Gallery Guide Australia March/April 2008 page 12, Judith McGrath Art Seen in WA June 2007; review of ALINED exhibition, Judith McGrath Art Seen in WA June 26th 2006; emerge ’06 various artists, Judith McGrath The West Australian Saturday April 8th 2006, Ric Spencer
Collections Art Gallery of Western Australia National Gallery of Victoria The Dr Ian & Sue Bernadt Collection The Collection of Drs Jo Lagerberg & Stephen Swift King Edward Memorial Hospital Collection Armadale Regional Authority Town of Vincent Private Collections in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, London,Vancouver & Japan & extensively across Australia
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Lindsay HARRIS
Djedalak Boodja (Old country) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 140cm x 200cm
Dreamtime The black line is an old track and through constant use has become wider. The track is becoming barely recognisable. The old pad/track has been consumed with time, and being consumed the expectation is waning and old memories can be lost. The red, white and yellow lines are eroding and losing the vividness and vitality that once was. This is an old person’s movement, like walking with a stick. The old person is moving through the landscape and he remembers where everything is but the clarity is breaking down. Even the djedalak is being transformed and it does not represent the country it once did.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Tracks to Kockerbin # 1, 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 140cm x 200cm
Dreamtime This image is the story of Kockerbin Rock. Kockerbin was a place where Noongar couples went to when the woman would not fall pregnant. They would visit a wise little man who lived there. He would say to them that when he saw them next time they would have a child. Kockerbin Rock is known as the fertility rock. The white cross is the advancement of Christianity. Christianity was totally opposed to the belief system of the Noongar people.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Waam #1 (Strangers) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 180cm x 74cm
Dreamtime This painting depicts the people who came to my home town of Kwolyin and the interaction between them. The brush stroke that goes right through the painting is the railway line, where people travelled on the train. Or in some instances where the swaggy or tramp followed when looking for work. The short lines that stop describes the people who were mainly men came to Kwolyin for employment. Sometimes these people would stay for a short time but in some circumstances lived for most or all of their lives and eventually died in Kwolyin. Kwolyin was a meeting place of people coming and going.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Waam (Strangers) 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 95cm x 115cm
Dreamtime This painting depicts the people who came to my home town of Kwolyin and the interaction between them. The brush stroke that goes right through the painting is the railway line, where people travelled on the train. Or in some instances where the swaggy or tramp followed when looking for work. The short lines that stop describes the people who were mainly men came to Kwolyin for employment. Sometimes these people would stay for a short time but in some circumstances lived for most or all of their lives and eventually died in Kwolyin. Kwolyin was a meeting place of people coming and going.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Bidjal (Half asleep) 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 105cm x 100cm
Dreamtime Bidjal (half asleep) is when you are given to dreaming. On one side of your mind you see country and the other side you drift to dream.You see country vividly. However, there is still story coming into view, still to become clear in the dreaming.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Kockerbin Biirt (The waiting track) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime The Noongars who once lived in the small areas around Kwolyin have now left. The country has been allowed to drift. Only the Kangaroo keeps the pads/tracks open and smooth. The white markings indicate the invasion of salt which has spread due to the clearing of the bush for farming.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Wombar (Dust) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime When the maarng-art (jam tree) branches are burnt in the fire, the ashes change into a very fine white dust. The ashes are ideal for cooking the kangaroo in. From time to time the kaarl (bush fire) will run over the country and will spread his white dust/ash over the country.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Coarin vale 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime Coarin is the name of the water hole at Kwolyin and when translated means koo-waarngkiny. Koo-waarngkiny means calling from afar and letting other people that I am here. Noongars would do this on the top of hills and rocks and the echo would travel vast distances.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Kep djure (Running water) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime Since the beginning of time water has run through this country, eventually flowing into larger rivers before entering the sea. All this time Old Moolyeen has looked on. Moolyeen is the wide nose grey snake which inhabits this country. This image depicts the track the snake leaves when travelling over the country.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Jekalbert (Rough skin) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime The land of the eastern Noongar is an ancient land. Time has cracked and laid low the oldest and strongest of earth’s hills and rocks. This breaking down effect leaves the landscape with a surface looking like rough skin.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Djaarl (Sinew) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime Djaarl (sinew) is extracted from the tail of the kangaroo. Djaarl is the thread used as twine to sew the kangaroo cloak together. The cloak and land provided the Noongar with protection and warmth.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Daaragar (Pale skin) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime When you take trees and vegetation from the country some people speak of the salt which is shown when you remove the top soil. However, Noongar people know when you remove what was there before reveals the bones which are white similar to the colour of salt.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Koort (At the heart of it) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime This image shows the retention of identity with land washed with the movement from Noongar and wadjula (white man) coming and going, or when returning from journeys afar. Koort is the heart which gives oxygen to the memory.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Doorntj (Harvest coming together) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime The overlapping tracks identify with the people meeting through time and coming together because of harvesting time. This was a time of activity with Noongar and wadjula people coming together and working the paddocks filled with wheat. After the harvesting was finished, noongar people went on their way.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Road scholar Kwolyin 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime Noongar people were road scholars of the land. They had to know the tracks to the water holes and to follow the tracks of the animals for food. Noongar people were the road scholars of their time and had to know the stories behind those tracks to survive. The road scholar knew the life of the road.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Jilbaa (Springtime) 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime After the rains there is freshness on the land. The landscape is exploding with colour and life, wombaa (dust) has gone, this is springtime. There is optimism in the new configuration. The eagles are circling searching for new born lambs.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Djen daaragar (White tracks/footprints) 2011 Pigment, Resin, Binder and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 105cm
Dreamtime This image depicts being constantly visited and harassed by people with authority as they passed through the town. The broad brush strokes hide the writings of the Native Welfare Department. The journals that were written and kept on record by the department were not available to Noongar people until many years later. However, the constant threat of being removed to a mission way of life affected the everyday life of the Noongar people.Vivid lines are seen.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Karlbeedal (Hot coals of the fire) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 100cm x 100cm
Dreamtime After the night fire, the next day the red coals beneath the ash remain. Adding the jam wood to the coals makes the fire become alive again. As a child, I attempted to jump over a container which had coals from the previous nights fire stored in it. I failed and stepped in the coals and my grandmother nursed me for over twelve months in the healing process. In that period I did not go to a doctor or to a hospital.
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Lindsay HARRIS
Biirt (Tracks hardly seen) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Lindsay HARRIS
Koort Koorar (Heart of long ago) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Lindsay HARRIS
Koort yey (The heart today) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Lindsay HARRIS
Koort moorn (The dark heart) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Lindsay HARRIS
Koort koorl (The heart is moving) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Lindsay HARRIS
Jekalbert #1 (Rough skin) 2011 Pigment, Resin and Clay on Hemp 30cm x 30cm
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Painting Koort Boodja (Heart Land)
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“Impermanence is the word that best describes what I am seeing. Impermanence is one of the key themes of my artistic orientations. Change is always occurring, nothing stays the same. Kwolyin town is now a ghost town with only a church remaining, travelling through Kwolyin, a person would only see this church and the road going through the town-site and would think that was all there is. But there are memories. These memories inspire my artwork.� - Lindsay HARRIS
Lindsay HARRIS posing with two of his paintings, one of which is included in the Koort Boodja (Heart Land) exhibit, Waam gnamaar (Strangers water hole) 2011 (far right).
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Lindsay HARRIS greeting guests at a recent exhibition opening in Australia.
With the collaboration and support of
ReDot Fine Art Gallery Tanjong Pagar Distripark, 39 Keppel Road, Unit #02-06 S’pore 089065 Tel/Fax: (65) 6222 1039 • Email: info@redotgallery.com
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 12noon till 7pm All other times by appointment
www.redotgallery.com
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For a high resolution, downloadable, PDF version of the this catalogue, with pricing, please send us an email to info@redotgallery.com Thank you.