WATERLINE
JOANNE CURRIE NALINGU

The importance of the river as a metaphor is a constant in the artist’s paintings. The river takes Joanne back to the hardships of her early life living on the banks of the Maranoa River in Mitchell, through her own journey to today with her family in Caloundra.

Her paintings speak of the river as a living entity, the rippling of the surface and the changes on the water can be seen as the many different events of her own life and provides reflection for the viewer on our own life’s course.

I grew up on the ‘Yumba’, by the banks of the Maranoa River in the 1960s. I’m using black and white a lot now, ..it’s a strong contrast…I use different colours underneath to give them a different atmosphere. When I paint the white rivers, it’s very calm and peaceful. The black ones are harder to paint. They remind me of the pressure around me. Painting helps keep myself together. Thinking of family, the good times and bad times. But that river is really a symbol of all rivers, for all people I think…I think of the Maranoa but it could be any river…

Joanne Currie Nalingu has been painting professionally since 1989 and has exhibited since 1990 in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. In 2008 she won The Wynne Prize at The Art Gallery of NSW and has been a finalist 6 times in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Awards at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. She has also exhibited at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne and Queensland regional galleries. Joanne’s work is held in numerous private and public collections including: Queensland Art Gallery/GoMA; Queensland Museum; Museum of Brisbane; The Brisbane Airport Corporation and collaborative public artworks with Campfire group artists in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.

As we celebrate 150 years of the establishment of Brisbane as a municipality throughout 2009, Museum of Brisbane is presenting work by Indigenous artists to celebrate, acknowledge and honour the long history, culture and heritage of Indigenous people of the region.