LUNGARUNG, 2007

Important Aboriginal + Oceanic Art
Melbourne
18 May 2011
5

WEAVER JACK

(c.1928 - 2010)
LUNGARUNG, 2007

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

168.5 x 106.0 cm

inscribed verso: artist's name, date, medium, size and Short Street Gallery cat. 23566

Estimate: 
$8,000 - 10,000
Sold for $8,400 (inc. BP) in Auction 20 - 18 May 2011, Melbourne
Provenance

Short Street Gallery, Broome
Chapman, Canberra
Private collection, Brisbane

Catalogue text

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Short Street Gallery, which states: 'Weaver Jack primarily paints her traditional country south of Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route. When she first started to paint, the outlines of the country were laid bare on the canvas. Like a skeleton of the country, slowly she reclaimed this country dotting over it, loosely at first. She said these were people walking all around that country collecting mayi (bush food) and hunting for kuwi (meat). Slowly, they merged with the people. It was then she started putting herself in the paintings and through her painting, Weaver managed to reclaim her country. Each turn of her brush captures the intimacy with which she knows her subject. It is an intimacy that is almost impossible to comprehend. It is an extension of herself. She takes discordant colours which represent all the things she eats, and the seemingly disordered is transformed and placed very deliberately in its right place, revealing its perfection. For Weaver, she and her land are inseparable: they are the same. We realise this does not fit in with conventional western views of portraiture but portraiture is about extending our perceptions of who we are. To understand Weaver, one must know her land, because they exist together and define each other.'