Sandfrog Dreaming, 2000

140 x 150 cm

Est. $5,000 – $7,000

Hammer $3,800

Provenance: Warmun Art Centre, Cat No. 431/00 Private Collection, NSW
Artwork story: At Winnaba Springs on Mabel Downs cattle station, the sandfrog, a creature linked to waterholes and ceremonial law, makes its home. In this work, Shirley has depicted a series of shallow rapids that flow around and through large monolithic rocks. It maps the animal's habitat and the springs, creeks, and watercourses where these ancestral beings reside. Shirley's use of earthy tones - ochre reds, black, green and grey - creates a landscape that evokes lived experience. Concentric circles mark large rocks, while the surrounding hills place the location of the ancestral frog's journey as both literal path and mythic passage. As a senior Gija artist and custodian of her mother's Dreaming, Shirley's works carry not only cultural authority but stylistic clarity. Her paintings remain key examples of East Kimberley narrative traditions and continue to attract collectors drawn to story-rich landscapes.

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Sale 1 · Lot 22

b. 1947 / 1948

140 x 150 cm

Est. $5,000 – $7,000

Hammer $3,800

Provenance: Warmun Art Centre, Cat No. 431/00 Private Collection, NSW
Artwork story: At Winnaba Springs on Mabel Downs cattle station, the sandfrog, a creature linked to waterholes and ceremonial law, makes its home. In this work, Shirley has depicted a series of shallow rapids that flow around and through large monolithic rocks. It maps the animal's habitat and the springs, creeks, and watercourses where these ancestral beings reside. Shirley's use of earthy tones - ochre reds, black, green and grey - creates a landscape that evokes lived experience. Concentric circles mark large rocks, while the surrounding hills place the location of the ancestral frog's journey as both literal path and mythic passage. As a senior Gija artist and custodian of her mother's Dreaming, Shirley's works carry not only cultural authority but stylistic clarity. Her paintings remain key examples of East Kimberley narrative traditions and continue to attract collectors drawn to story-rich landscapes.