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Joanne
Currie Nalingu
Winner Wynne Prize 2008 Finalist Wynne Prize 2009 Art Gallery NSW
Winner Wynne Prize 2008 Finalist Wynne Prize 2009 Art Gallery NSW
© 2008
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Maranoa River Joanne
Currie grew up on the riverbanks of the Maranoa at the
Yumba, an Aboriginal Mission outside of Mitchell in southwest
Queensland. Joanne's childhood memories are of a grass roots lifestyle
– families and hardships.
Whilst Joanne began painting in 1988, it was 1992 when Joanne began her cultural research – Maranoa cultural material and designs from the Mandandanji people (Gunguri language group) - that has culminated in the current artworks. She was searching for an accurate way to represent the visual language of her people and country. She was searching for her tribal roots. Joanne spent considerable time at the Queensland Museum examining the collection of shield designs from the area. The important information she gathered from the collection has been merged with her constant ongoing investigations into formal colour and composition to produce remarkable interpretations of traditional motifs. The Maranoa shield designs are largely based on intersecting diamond patterns and body paint lines. The oval shape of the shield itself is also used as a visual element. The idea of Waterways is referenced by linear designs of the river and clay pans. Joanne Currie has realised a highly charged individual style that, whilst instantly recognisable as Aboriginal, speaks of her journey as an artist moving within cultures – artwork that holds to tradition yet speaks with authority of the here and now. |
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