Title
Hunting grounds
1993
Artist
Dr Pantjiti Mary McLean
Australia
circa 1930 –
Language group: Ngaatjatjarra, Southern Desert region
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Kalgoorlie
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Western Australia
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Australia
- Date
- 1993
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- synthetic polymer paint, charcoal, ochres on paper
- Dimensions
- 138.5 x 261.0 cm (irreg.)
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Mollie Gowing Acquisition fund for Contemporary Aboriginal art 1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 547.1993
- Copyright
- © Pantjiti Mary McLean
- Artist information
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Dr Pantjiti Mary McLean
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Dr Pantjiti Mary McLean's paintings are infused with the vibrancy, life and bounty of her country, Ngaatjatjarra land in the central deserts of Australia. 'Hunting Grounds', 1993, depicts walku (the ripe quandong fruit), the ripples on the surface of the waterholes, the scampering of the nyintaka (goanna) and the laughter and song of her people. Wira (carved wooden dishes) of gathered bush foods and blooming flowers cover the surface and surround the lively subjects. The aerial view of this idyllic group adds a charmed dimension to the uniquely stylised figures that are the artist's hallmark.
Pantitji now resides at the Ninga Mia community in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. She began painting in her fifties, usually producing paintings in a methodical, Western Desert 'dot painting' style and quandong root pokerwork artefacts. In the early 1990s, Pantitji was encouraged by fellow artist, Nalda Searles, during a two-year public art project, to further develop her own style. She takes great joy in producing her anecdotal paintings of the day-to-day narratives of her childhood in her grandmother's country, Kaltukutjara (Docker River) in the Northern Territory, and her father's country, around Papalungkuta (Blackstone) in Western Australia.
To make her paintings, Pantitji lays paper or canvas on the ground and sits and paints from various points around it and on it, creating a multi-directional composition. No specific character or element is isolated, or described as having greater significance than another. Everybody and everything plays an important role in this artist's stories.
Pantitji's paintings of daily activities include the human and animal tracks that cross the same plane, seamlessly merging the past and the present. Her 'borderless' pictures are imbued with a sense of great wellbeing and of the continuation and harmony of the life cycle.
Pantitji's significance as a contemporary artist is enhanced by her roles as a mother, a respected elder and a community educator, for which she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Curtin University of Technology, Perth, in 2001. Pantitji's distinctive paintings are alive with optimistic symbols of the shifting relationship between art and country, and give us a privileged insight into traditional Aboriginal beliefs in a modern context.
Natasha Brook in 'Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004
© Art Gallery of New South Wales
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Another Country, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Jul 1999–02 Apr 2000
Dr Pantjiti Mary McLean retrospective (2005), Tandanya, Adelaide, 07 May 2005–24 Jul 2005
One sun, one moon, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Jul 2007–02 Dec 2007
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Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
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Natasha Brook, Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia, 'Dr Pantjiti Mary McLean', pg. 70, Sydney, 2004, 70 (colour illus.), 71 (colour illus., detail).
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art', pg. 208-241, Sydney, 1999, 235 (colour illus.).
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Steven Miller, One sun one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia, ‘Cultural capital: Key moments in the collecting of Australian Indigenous art’, pg. 29-41, Sydney, 2007, 38 (colour illus.).
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