Koonawarratji, 1995

natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

90 x 60 cm

Est. $18,000 – $25,000

Provenance: Warmun Traditional Artists, Warmun, WA, Cat No. RT-1009 Ladner + Fell Gallery, Armadale, Vic, Cat No. RT-1009 Private Collection, acquired from the above Accompanied by certificates of authenticity from Warmun Traditional Artists and Ladner + Fell Gallery
Exhibited: Images of Power, Ladner + Fell Gallery, Armadale, Vic, October 2006
Artwork story: Gunwaggi — Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route — is the site of the remote community of Koonawarratji, where Thomas was born. Taken as a young boy to work on Kimberley cattle stations, initiated into traditional lore at Billiluna Station in the 1940s, and adopted into the Kija people at Warmun with the skin name Joolama, he introduced himself to Kimberley arts advocate Mary Màcha with the words: "Rover Thomas: I want to paint." He returned to Koonawarratji in 1994, late in life, and this painting is the result of that journey. A winding dotted line traces the single road into and out of the community, while a cluster of circular forms in the upper register marks the small group of newly erected houses that had replaced the humpies of his childhood. In Thomas's own words: "one road in, one road out."

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Sale 3 · Lot 5

c.1926 – 1998

natural earth pigments on Belgian linen

90 x 60 cm

Est. $18,000 – $25,000

Provenance: Warmun Traditional Artists, Warmun, WA, Cat No. RT-1009 Ladner + Fell Gallery, Armadale, Vic, Cat No. RT-1009 Private Collection, acquired from the above Accompanied by certificates of authenticity from Warmun Traditional Artists and Ladner + Fell Gallery
Exhibited: Images of Power, Ladner + Fell Gallery, Armadale, Vic, October 2006
Artwork story: Gunwaggi — Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route — is the site of the remote community of Koonawarratji, where Thomas was born. Taken as a young boy to work on Kimberley cattle stations, initiated into traditional lore at Billiluna Station in the 1940s, and adopted into the Kija people at Warmun with the skin name Joolama, he introduced himself to Kimberley arts advocate Mary Màcha with the words: "Rover Thomas: I want to paint." He returned to Koonawarratji in 1994, late in life, and this painting is the result of that journey. A winding dotted line traces the single road into and out of the community, while a cluster of circular forms in the upper register marks the small group of newly erected houses that had replaced the humpies of his childhood. In Thomas's own words: "one road in, one road out."