2023, 57 pages, JD Mittman, Burrinja
Review by Margaret Cassidy
Warmun in the East Kimberleys is indeed a long way from Venice but both are places of great beauty and culture, they are at the crossroads of cultures both local and global and they reflect the artistic journey of one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary Aboriginal artists, Juluma/Joolama Rover Thomas. Thomas commenced painting when living in Warmun in the early 1980s and together with urban Aboriginal artist Trevor Nickolls he was the first Aboriginal artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1990.
This excellent short form catalogue was developed by curator JD Mittman to accompany the exhibition of the same name held at the Burrinja Gallery in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria from 8 July – 12 August 2023. This exhibition was the third in the series Burrinja’s ‘Masters of Aboriginal Contemporary Art’, following earlier presentations of the work of artists Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Minnie Pwerle.
The works in the exhibition Rover – From Warmun to Venice are drawn predominantly from the private collection of Hank Ebes, making the opportunity provided by this modest catalogue to have a permanent visual record of these remarkable works even more special. This book provides an opportunity for art lovers to inexpensively acquire a wealth of information about the extraordinary art of Rover Thomas who was able to freely move across cultures while drawing on cultural lore and historical events, past and present.
While Rover Thomas started painting at Warmun in the 1980s, he was not from the local Gija people. He was born in 1926 to Kukatja/Wangkajunka parents near the sandhills of Gunawaggi or Well 33 on the remote Canning Stock Route in Western Australia, far to the south of the Ord River. When he was ten years old the family walked north to Billiluna Station on the edge of the Kimberley and he began his working life as a stockman. Rover Thomas subsequently worked across many Kimberley cattle stations including Texas Downs until 1975 when he moved to the Warmun camp on the edge of what was Turkey Creek township.
A dream was the catalyst for Thomas introducing a modern song cycle to his mother’s brother Paddy Jaminji and others at Warmun. It recounted stories and associated sites in the East Kimberley, told on wooden dance boards and painted with natural ochres. Rover Thomas began as the customary overseer of the painted dance boards and then started painting, developing his distinctive style with its seamless amalgamation of figurative and abstract styles to depict topographical features and at times horrific historical events. Many of the paintings in this exhibition tell the stories of massacres of Aboriginal people that remain in the memory of elders.
Having camped on its edge in the 1980s, one painting Kandimalal (no potatoes) / Wolfe Crater stands out to me. The site is of major significance for the local Jaru and Walmajarri people who noticed that the local bush potato did not seem to grow in the area around the crater. Several Dreaming stories are associated with the formation of the crater, including the passage of the Rainbow Serpent out of the earth and that the Evening Star passed so close to the Crescent Moon that it fell to the ground causing an enormous explosion. Thomas’ canvas at one level appears a deceptively spare abstraction where shapes outlined by white or yellow dots fold into aerial landscapes yet the serpent is also lurking.
This book is a delightful introduction and guide to Rover Thomas’ art which can be also regarded as annotated maps of Country combining Dreaming stories and the historical.
As the gallery of the Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Centre, Burrinja provides art leadership beyond its size in delivering exhibitions and associated catalogues of this quality and value.